Penn State Wilkes-Barre math professor Mohamad Nouri was fired April 15 for allegedly committing academic dishonesty at the decision of Penn State President Graham Spanier.

Nouri, a tenured professor who has taught at Penn State since 1988, was accused and found guilty of multiple counts of plagiarism by the university's Standing Joint Committee on Tenure.

Before Spanier's decision, the case passed through two committees, both of which unanimously decided there was enough evidence to suspect academic dishonesty.

According to a Times Leader newspaper article published Friday, Spanier issued Nouri a letter informing him of his termination. In the letter, Spanier said that "adequate cause has been demonstrated to terminate your tenured appointment."

Mary Hines, campus executive officer at Wilkes-Barre, declined to comment on behalf of the campus.

According to Nouri's Web site, www.monouri.com, the professor's alleged acts of academic dishonesty include plagiarizing the work of two of his students, using another professor's ideas in a presentation at a 2001 conference in Iran, and plagiarizing material for his new book. These allegations were discovered when university attorney James Horne reviewed a civil rights case Nouri filed against Penn State in May 2001 accusing the university of discrimination. Nouri is of Iranian descent.

In a letter sent to Spanier after his decision last Thursday, Ed Slavin, Nouri's attorney, called the hearings a "kangaroo court." He also said Spanier's decision was made to retaliate against Nouri for winning a civil rights suit against the university in 1999 and filing the second suit. "That report and recommendation was unscholarly and erroneous, failing to consider evidence or argument presented by Dr. Nouri, establishing his innocence and university counsel's motives for retaliating against the person he identified as the only person to win a jury verdict against PSU for civil rights violations," Slavin said in the letter.

Slavin and Nouri could not be reached for comment after multiple attempts to call them since last Thursday.

University spokesman Tysen Kendig said the case passed through the RA10 Committee of five tenured faculty members, then the Standing Joint Committee on Tenure, which includes three representatives from University Faculty Senate and two administrators, who all recommended Nouri's termination. "I know President Spanier supported the recommended decisions of two special committees," Kendig said. "The president made his decision based on the facts of the case."

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon emphasized the seriousness of plagiarism. "He's been separated from the university," Mahon said. "In higher education, academic honesty is a very important foundation of the institution."