A lot of open source software operates on the same principles of academic research. Most academic research is considered freely available, and other researchers can generally use your work as they please, so long as they cite the original author.

In this context, not "citing the original author" in the copyright statement, labeling the repository as a "fork" on GitHub, clearly crediting the original author in a way that clearly describes the fact that a significant portion of their code is used in the new project isn't just a violation of the license, it's plagiarism.

So in that sense it could be better potentially.