The first plagiarist whose wares the Cabinet displayed on its shelves, and the last one to have escaped all consequences for his actions, has at long last been caught out. As of this week, Arizona State University's directory pages quietly list Professor Matthew Whitaker not as a Foundation Professor, nor even as a professor. Instead, he is now that most thwarted of academic beasts, an associate professor. The directory also, after some rapid back and forth, has revealed that a co-director will be appointed for the Center of the Study of Race and Democracy, which until now has been most assertively Professor Whitaker's sole domain. The Cabinet was at first tempted to use words such as "belated," and to ask wearily whether those who have been publicly accused of debased motives for pointing out Professor Whitaker's serial misconduct, will receive apologies. But there is no point to recriminations. And make no mistake: this is a sharp and heavy blow. For years, Professor Whitaker deflected all consequences for his misconduct onto the very people who sought to reveal it. And then, at last, he no longer could.
