Talk:Cathy Davidson

message: I thought it was suspicious how there was no mention of Davidson's role in the Group of 88 in this article so decided to examine the various IPs who have all been so firmly against such inclusion.
152.3.43.222 made quite a few Davidson related edits accords Wikipedia. While some were uncontroversial, at least 6 significant edits were made opposing the Duke Lacrosse scandal material in 2013, either posting here and on noticeboards or simply removing engaging in wholesale removal of the content. While the initial version of text added did have some minor sourcing issues it's extremely clear that the material in question is highly notable and not UNDUE in the slights as was incorrectly being argued. Perhaps most worrying of all was that the IP also opposed inclusion of any such mention of the group of 88 controversy for any of Davidson's colleagues either, some of whom played even more significant roles in the Group of 88 than she did. A WHOIS check of the IP shows it to be from Duke University, who were Davidson's employer at the time.
On 1st of July 2014 a second IP 146.96.130.201 started editing the page, their very first contribution being the removal of the Duke lacrosse material (despite the sourcing now being improved). The IP is question belongs to Graduate Center of the City University of New York and Davidson started work there on the 1st July 2014 (her husband also moved from Duke to CUNY at the same time). The CUNY edits, reasoning, style and knowledge of the issues appear remarkably similar to the Duke IP, therefore suggesting it may be the same editor who used both IPs. Term dates show the final examinations were on May 18th and the next semester begins on August 28th , meaning there are few students around thus significantly increasing the likelihood that the edit was made by a staff member.
As far as I'm aware, neither of these two IPs disclosed their WP:COI on any of the issues at any time. I've now tagged the IPs and reminded them about our policies on this matter. The various comments above and elsewhere by the IP should therefore be viewed in the context of the conflict of interest of the author, and I'd ask them to be a little more honest about this in future please.
Update - some further "interesting" edits from a different Duke IP --Shakehandsman (talk) 16:02, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I note the account User:Nigel Pap was registered within an hour of my posting of the above revelations. Nigel has almost exclusively made posts in support of removing Group of 88 material, in a manner quite similar to the COI IPs and also appears to have a similar level of familiarity with Wikipedia policies and proceedures.--Shakehandsman (talk) 17:18, 12 July 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I have no affiliation with with Duke University, CUNY, any of the professors in the Group of 88, or anyone else involved in the Duke lacrosse case. I have no conflict of interest. The fact that I registered shortly after these comments were posted is a coincidence. Although there may be a connection between the IPs listed by Shakehandsman, I see no reason to assume that they are Cathy Davidson herself or that they have a conflict of interest. Nigel Pap (talk) 19:31, 12 July 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: You clearly misunderstand our polices here. It's reasonably certain that the two IPs are related, but even that doesn't matter so much. We've proved beyond any doubt that they both belong to institutions that employed Davidson at the time of the edits by the IPs. For those affiliated with Duke and CUNY to be removing Group of 88 material represents a blatant breach of our COI guidelines. If it's not Davidson making these edits then its likely to be one of her colleagues (possibly another member of the 88?) or perhaps one of her students and none of these things are allowed. It wasn't so terrible the first time when the sourcing/prose was less than perfect, but the most recent edits in particular really do not seem motivated by a wish to improve the article. Anyway. please read up on our COI guidelines, it's important that editors understand them.  I should also note that none of those IP editors have reappearance since Nigel joined us here, and while that proves nothing in itself, is it a little strange on top of everything else--Shakehandsman (talk) 20:58, 12 July 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: It would be reasonable to expect that students or educators at Duke (or other institutions) would be especially interested in this issue. There is no conflict of interest simply because the IP is associated with Duke. Nigel Pap (talk) 22:28, 12 July 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes there is. Any person seeking to gain a qualification from Duke has an interest in the reputation of the institution and that reputation is damaged by the scandal (particularly for any of the departments strongly associated with the 88). Very few of the 88 lost their jobs as a result of their actions, and most seem to still be there today so its not as if we're taking about ancient history or simply the actions of former long-gone staff. Now there's nothing wrong with these COI editors engaging in this discussion, though of course they should declare their COI first, the real problem is the censorship of group of 88 material by these COI editors/editor--Shakehandsman (talk) 22:48, 12 July 2014 (UTC)

text: Thanks for the info. I see they now both work at CUNY so it's quite brave a of him to do that.--Shakehandsman (talk) 03:17, 14 July 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: Conflict of interest violations