Lessons in Plagiarism: The UAH Copycat Website

In the summer of 2008 the UAH campus and internet blogs alike were abuzz about the university’s new website design. Apparently, the new and improved layout looked a little too familiar to many in the business of ranking and critiquing professional websites. In lieu of spending the time and money to create or buy their own template UAH decided to simply copy Brown University’s design.

Aside from the potential legal consequences of stealing a copyrighted webpage the scandal was a very public embarrassment for the university. Many wondered why UAH, an institution of higher learning known for achievements in science and technology, couldn’t manage to create an original webpage.

Blogger Eric Stroller cited Brown’s copyright notification, “‘The copyright for this material rests with Pentagram Inc. and Brown University. You may not alter this information, repost or sell it without prior permission,’” and then quipped “Umm. I don’t think that the University of Alabama in Huntsville got the message… I’m a huge fan of Brown University’s home page design. It’s too bad that UAH took their fandom a bit too far.”

The news even made the pages of The Brown Daily Herald with an article entitled “Schools take a liking to Brown’s website” which mentioned UAH’s design “look(ing) and function(ing) just like Brown’s.”

Jeremy Britten of University Web Developers wrote “While UAH doesn’t make their menu interactive like Brown does (maybe they thought that would be borrowing too much) it is obviously a design borrowed heavily from the Brown homepage.” He asks his readers “Did UAH go to Far?”

Apparently, those responsible for the copied homepage don’t feel they went too far, or at least they won’t admit to it.

The design and upkeep of the website was under the jurisdiction of the Office of University Relations, which is a subsidiary of the Office of the President, at the time that Brown’s code was used. With the recent restructuring of the administration the webpage is now the responsibility of the Office of University Advancement who has partnered with the library to create a new web design team.

In an effort to determine why the university chose to use Brown’s design rather than create their own, those responsible for maintaining the website before and after the administrative move were contacted. Many were reluctant to speak about UAH’s worst kept secret. Some felt pressure, whether direct or indirect, not to tell their story.

Jonathan Smith, a former UAH student who was involved in the design of the site, stated “In my current state I don’t feel it is appropriate for me to talk about the goings on of the website here at UAH.”

Joel Lonergan, who was responsible for the web site at the time, denied any wrongdoing. He stated that site was developed from an open source code created by Yahoo! Inc. that is free for use by anyone who gives credit to Yahoo. According to Lonergan this was also the source of the code used by Brown University. He claimed that concerns over the site didn’t arise until after it was posted when the Office of University Relations was informed by outside sources that it was similar to Brown University’s.

At the urging of Dr. Wilson Luquire, Dean of the Library, Lonergan spoke with Dr. Chris Paul, then an assistant professor in the web-based media cognate, about the web site. Lonergan maintains that Paul “felt that there was no issue” using the open source code as long as credit was given to Yahoo. “These are the facts and they are undisputable,” stated Lonergan: “at no time did the university do anything untoward, illegal, or unethical.”

Although open source code was used in developing the web site it is not what was responsible for the entire layout and html of the site as Lonergan implied. According to Paul, the script that was used from the open source code was what made one specific feature of the site, the drop down menu bars, function. The design of the website itself was what concerned him. “My opinion is that they copied and pasted the code and that is what I found problematic” stated Paul. At the time he expressed that if a student were to attempt something similar in his class he or she would be charged with academic plagiarism.

Dr. Wilson Luquire, Dean of the Library, referred me to Jeff Sands, President of the Office of University Advancement via Daniel Horton, the Library Web Graphic Designer.

Sands, who did not oversee the website team at the time that Brown’s design was used, sees the webpage’s unpopularity as more of an issue than the copied design. “You can have your own views on whether having a website that is similar to another university’s is or is not a good thing,” stated Sands. He added that the legal implications are not an obstacle for the new web team. “Our attorneys have looked at it very closely. They have given me their considered opinion that we have not violated any copyrights. Are there similarities? Anyone can look at the two websites and see that there are similarities. I think it’s a non-issue at this point.”

Fortunately for UAH, Brown University takes an equally tolerant attitude towards the borrowed copyrighted code. According to Scott Turner, the Director of Web Communications at Brown University, his school “viewed the similar designs as a compliment.” The only issue Brown had with the duplicate website arose because of Brown’s use of Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a service that tracks data about the use of a website using code from the page. Statistics about use of the UAH website were feeding into the statistics for Brown website. Turner confirmed that “For the period April 29 to July 4, 2008, we were recording hits on the UA Huntsville home page. This is because our Google Analytics code was copied and pasted into the code of the Huntsville home page.”

It is the responsibility of a university to not only teach students with books, lectures, and exams but also to teach by example. UAH has strict policies against using another’s work as one’s own without permission or without giving credit where credit is due. Brown University’s Web Communications Department worked with New York based design firm Pentagram Inc. to cater their site to the needs of the Brown community using input from students, staff, and faculty (Brown.edu). UAH did not consult with the students, the individual colleges and departments, or the campus organizations that help create the site and for whom the site was created and intended to serve. Instead, UAH used the work of the Brown web design team and Pentagram Inc. to put up a site that, based on its unpopularity, does not seem to meet the UAH community’s needs at all.

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