Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies

Editor fired for plagiarism

By Katie Taylor, Editor in Chief

A reporter contacted The Miami Student staff Tuesday, after coming across a story in the publication that resembled one she wrote for the Hamilton Journal-News days prior.

The Miami Student staff immediately spoke to the community editor who claimed a byline for the March 10 story, "Work-related deaths increase in area." It was then determined the editor copied large chunks of the original article written by Chelsey Levingston for the Journal-News.

Further investigation revealed the editor plagiarized portions of numerous other articles published in The Miami Student since the start of the spring 2015 semester. The editor was fired.

The Miami Student staff views plagiarism as an inexcusable offense. Following news of the editor's actions, the Editorial Board engaged in a lengthy discussion of journalistic ethics to determine how to address the issue and begin to rebuild readers' trust.

The result of this discussion and an official apology to the community can be found at the top of today's Opinion section, page 6.

In addition, below is a list of the articles that were plagiarized, credited to their legitimate authors and publications. The Miami Student staff welcomes readers to voice their questions and concerns by emailing editorial@miamistudent.net.

The following list contains the names of plagiarized articles published in The Miami Student, the appropriate author credit and publication from which they came

"Energy plan to spark savings in Oxford," Eric Robinette, Journal-News

"Child abuse lawsuit hits close to home for Butler County," Denise G. Callahan, Journal-News

"Grant on track to fund train stop," Michael D. Clark, The Cincinnati Enquirer

"Summit aims to solve area drug epidemic," Rick McCrabb, Journal-News

"New era for McCullough-Hyde," Chelsey Levingston, Journal-News

"$15,000 health grant awarded to local organization," Bob Ratterman, Journal-News

"Work-related deaths increase in area," Chelsey Levingston, Journal-News