On January 9, 2013, Spence apologized for plagiarizing several passages in an op-ed piece he wrote for the
Toronto Star on extracurricular activities. The plagiarism was verified by the
Star's
public editor. Among the plagiarized material was this paragraph lifted from a 1989 opinion piece in
The New York Times: "We are challenged through sport to use our minds in guiding our bodies through the dimensions of time and space on the field of play. Learning the skills of sport provides opportunity to experience success." On January 10, 2013, Spence tendered his resignation as director effective immediately after additional incidents of plagiarism in earlier articles and blog entries were uncovered. Passages from his 1996 Ed.D. dissertation were also revealed to have been copied from other sources without attribution: sentences, paragraphs, whole pages were meticulously edited so as to obscure his plagiarism. On June 20, 2017, the
University of Toronto investigated the allegations, found him guilty of academic dishonesty, and rescinded his degree. On December 20, 2016, the
Ontario College of Teachers announced that Spence's teaching license had been revoked as a result of the findings of the investigation. In 2018, Spence lost his fight to keep his Ed.D. The appeals tribunal stated that the "nature and extent [of plagiarism] found in Spence's thesis is a very serious offence." The matter, however, is not yet settled. His lawyer, Darryl Singer, wrote in an email that Spence intends to seek judicial review of the decision in Ontario divisional court. Spence successfully appealed the revocation of his teaching licence in 2018 on the grounds that his "'precarious' mental state was not adequately accounted for." A psychiatric report stated that Spence's ability to function had been affected by "depression and suicidal ideation related to the evaporation of his marriage and career." ==Works==