The Daily Tar Heel, the student newspaper at UNC Chapel Hill, reports in a story updated on Oct. 1:
Less than a week before First Amendment Day, a UNC-system school infringed on students’ right to free press.
Administrators at Western Carolina University informed the staff of the school’s student newspaper, The Western Carolinian, Friday afternoon that they would be suspending the newspaper’s publication to investigate plagiarism allegations against some of its reporters.
Students were not given reasons why the investigation, which had already been going on for almost a month, could not continue without shutting down the newspaper, said Justin Caudell, its editor-in-chief.
Although the newspaper was reinstated Wednesday morning after Caudell met with administrators, the university still has not given students a clear reason for suspending the newspaper.
“What happened at Western Carolina is one of the clearest cut First Amendment violations we’ve seen at a public university,” said Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, which provides legal assistance to student journalists about their rights.
“Actually shutting down the paper down is extremely rare,” LoMonte said. “Most schools have figured out that wasn’t a permissible option.”
Universities can suspend the newspaper only when it is expected to cause substantial disruption to the schools’ operations, LoMonte said.
WCU administrators cannot comment on why they decided to take those steps because they are still investigating the plagiarism charges, said Bill Studenc, senior director of news services for the university.
The investigation began when reporters from the local newspaper, The Sylva Herald, sent reporters and university administrators an e-mail, saying their work was being plagiarized by the student journalists.
Lynn Hotaling, an editor for The Sylva Herald who sent the e-mail, said she noticed that two or three of the articles The Western Carolinian published were exact copies of their work.
The Tuckasegee Reader editorializes on the situation here.
2 Comments
The charge of plagiarism is so explosive and career-threatening, it must be followed with the facts of what allegedly occurred. A thorough examination of the articles detailing how the incident unfolded offers no clues about what the charge was based upon. When making the accusation, the accuser, I believe, bears the burden of proof. Simply put, "if you believe I plagiarized your work, prove it…outside of that, we have nothing to talk about."
Ms. Hotaling should offer specifics, not allegations.
This doesn't minimize the seriousness of the charge; only that it should leveled when the facts are clear.
Additionally, issues of copyright are far different from those regarding plagiarism.
If a student journalist was to put their byline on a story that appeared in another publication, they simply may not have known it was wrong. While ignorance of what is acceptable behavior for a journalist is a poor excuse for attaching a byline to another's work, it doesn't carry the same consequences as plagiarism.
And while distressing, these moments allow all the parties involved a chance to learn and grow. The student journalist can learn what is and isn't acceptable when reprinting copy. The professional journalists can learn that a charge of plagiarism must be followed with clear, indisputable facts. The WCU administration can learn its response to the accusation should have balanced with its responsibility to maintain the academic reputation of the university while protecting the student journalists' first amendment rights.
Even if the students had plagiarized, a public university shutting down operations of a newspaper under student editorial control is a clear violation of the First Amendment.
I haven't read anything conclusive about these plagiarize charges, either. Why isn't the university releasing their findings if they can prove the students are guilty? Seems like they're trying to justify their own lawbreaking by vaugely pointing the finger at their own students.