Iowa Court of Appeals upholds sanctions against UNI professor

DES MOINES — The Iowa Court of Appeals is upholding discipline imposed on a University of Northern Iowa professor for plagiarism.

A UNI investigation committee found communication and media professor Gayle Pohl committed plagiarism in a book chapter she published in 2017. The committee rejected the possibility that problems in her writing were honest errors. It recommended five sanctions that included prohibiting her from applying for promotion to full professor.

Pohl asked for a judicial review on a variety of claims, including allegations of bias and a lack of substantial evidence. The Court of Appeals upheld the UNI committee’s findings, saying its decision making, and resulting discipline against Pohl was not illogical, unreasonable, arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion.