Sadly, from time to time, my students (at the large research university where I teach) take a shortcut and include plagiarized passages in their papers. The internet has certainly made this easier, and the web is infested with sites offering papers for sale. Of course, as Tom Waits once noted, "The large print giveth and the small print taketh away."1 Meaning, the web also makes it easy to detect plagiarism. Plagiarism is cheating. It is also theft. It is simply unacceptable to claim the work of another as your own. When plagiarism is found, the sanctions can, and should, be severe.
At my university plagiarism is rewarded with a failing grade in the class, academic probation, and, from time to time, expulsion. These sanctions are made clear in the syllabus and are noted in paper assignments. Yet, when detected, many students offer the lame excuse that "everybody does it" or the even more questionable claim that "everything on the internet is free to use as anyone likes." Wrong.
Now we learn that Senator Rand Paul is a serial plagiarist. (By the way Senator, Wikipedia is a source I do not allow my students to use.) I fear a new excuse may now be offered, "Senator Rand Paul plagiarized and nothing happened to him." Senator Paul, what should I tell my students when they offer you as an example? My students receive a failing grade and are often expelled. Do you think you deserve less? Do you think you should receive no sanction? Will you simply blame a staffer? Will you remain silent and wait for it to blow over?
Come on Senator Paul, what do you have to say for yourself? What do you have to say to my students? Personally, I think you should resign.
1See what I did here Senator? It's called attribution.