Issue date: 3/3/08 Section: Forum

'Similar' not good enough at Medill

Northwestern University Provost Daniel Linzer sent the Medill community an e-mail Friday to describe the findings of the ad hoc committee appointed to investigate Medill Dean John Lavine's use of anonymous quotes. Linzer wrote that the committee found no evidence Lavine had fabricated his quotes and that he has "confidence in Dean Lavine to continue to lead the Medill School of Journalism."

The provost's optimism is not convincing. In the e-mail, he writes that the three Medill alumni who made up the committee could not find evidence that the quotes were exact. They only discovered enough to demonstrate "that sentiments similar to the quotes had been expressed by students."

For journalists, similar is not good enough. There is no point in tape recording and note-taking if a journalist can remember the basic idea from a source and present it as verbatim speech. Those working in public relations can tweak statements in order to prevent their bosses from sounding unintelligent, but reporters cannot rewrite quotes at leisure. If a person doesn't say a particular statement, it does not belong within quotation marks.

Three Medill alumni comprised the review committee, and it is worrisome that they consider similarity an acceptable substitute for accuracy and truth. Moreover, Dean Lavine instituted a revamped Medill code of ethics, applicable in and outside of Medill, shortly after he took over. This is hardly leading by example.

Nor was the investigation independent. Two of the Medill alumni are members of the Medill Board of Advisors and the NU Board of Trustees. It would not have been hard to ask for input from working journalists such as the Chicago Tribune's public editor, Timothy McNulty, or Tribune columnist Eric Zorn, who has extensively covered Quotegate.

The Daily reported on Friday that Medill professor David Protess had contacted the five juniors who would have been the sources of Lavine's quotes. They all said Lavine never spoke with them and that the university committee never interviewed them as a part of the investigation. At the Tribune, Zorn also confirmed that the students said they were not the source of Lavine's quote.

It's absurd that the committee somehow couldn't manage to contact a mere five students from the class in question. Talking with the students - as Daily columnist David Spett, Professor Protess and Zorn have all done - could have closed the book on Quotegate. Instead, we're left with more unknowns and the sensation that close isn't just good enough in horseshoes and hand grenades, but it's also good enough at Medill.


School shouldn't hire ex-criminals

On Feb. 15, after police found more than $100,000 worth of stolen property in his basement, Rengay Frazier was arrested. Frazier has a criminal history; he was convicted of battery 12 years ago. At the time of his arrest, Frazier was employed as a janitor at Evanston's Haven Middle School.

Evanston/Skokie School District 65 runs background checks on their employees and was aware of Frazier's battery conviction. In hiring Frazier, District 65 did not violate any school codes.

Just because his hiring wasn't in violation of school code, it doesn't mean it was the correct decision. Battery is technically not considered a "violent" offense, but that is an upsetting technicality. Even though it's difficult for convicted felons to find employment, someone convicted of battery - which means physically harming someone - should not be employed by a school district or allowed to work around children.

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