Though the provost's office has cleared Medill Dean John Lavine's of any wrongdoing in his use of anonymous quotes, a student forum on the controversy will take place next week to continue discussion on the issue.
In an e-mail to Medill students and faculty Friday morning, University Provost Daniel Linzer said an ad hoc committee of three Medill alumni found no evidence that Lavine fabricated quotes for a column in the alumni magazine.
The provost's inquiry began after a Feb. 11 column in The Daily raised questions about an anonymous quote, said to be from a Medill junior praising a marketing class, that Lavine used in a column for the Medill alumni magazine.
The columnist, Medill senior David Spett, said he contacted all 29 students, including the five Medill juniors, in the class without finding the source of the quote.
After the column appeared, 17 Medill faculty members signed a letter calling for more explanation, four students circulated a petition supporting the faculty and Lavine issued an apology for having exercised "poor judgment" in his use of the unattributed quote.
The five juniors in the marketing class were later interviewed two more times, by Medill professor David Protess and by Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn. All said they had not given the quote to Lavine.
The three-person committee, which included two members of NU's Board of Trustees, found that enough material similar to the anonymous quote exists that there is no evidence the quotes were fabricated.
"I accept the committee's conclusions," Linzer wrote. "While I join Dean Lavine in wishing that material demonstrating the sources of the quotations was readily available, I have determined that no violation of University policy has occurred in connection with the Spring 2007 'Letter from the Dean.'"
"I have confidence in Dean Lavine to continue to lead the Medill School of Journalism."
When reached by phone Sunday evening, committee member Teresa Norton referred further inquiries to the provost's office, saying only, "My obligation is to assist in the assignments (NU) gives me, and I think I fulfilled that assignment by helping the provost."
Some students and faculty members said they were not satisfied.
Protess, who helped write a faculty letter issued Feb. 19, called the committee's conclusions "inaccurate."
"I am not alleging that the dean fabricated quotes," Protess said. "I am alleging that it is inaccurate to say there is no evidence that he did not fabricate quotes."
Protess said he had contacted the five juniors, all of whom said the provost's office did not interview them during its inquiry.
"I think it's also fair to say that if there is one thing I have learned in more than two decades of teaching and practicing investigative reporting, it is that you will not find reliable evidence if you do not look in the right places," he said.
He challenged the statement's claim that "the quotes were consistent with sentiment students expressed about the course."
"It is a hard and fast rule in journalism that when quotation marks are used, they should reflect what a source actually said, not merely their quote-unquote 'sentiments,'" Protess said. "If simply capturing the mood of unnamed sources is good enough to be used in quotation marks, then our standards as a journalism school are slipping."
Four Medill students who created a blog about the controversy are sponsoring a forum March 11 to discuss the ethical issues raised by Lavine's use of anonymous quotes. They also circulated a petition among students and alumni, delivering it to Lavine, Linzer and President Henry Bienen last week with 240 signatures.
"Some of the people that signed the petition, the statement, are not satisfied with (Linzer's statement)," said Medill senior Aaron Gannon, who helped write the petition. "That's what they have told us. They are wondering what kind of precedent this sets for the journalism code of ethics."
The forum will go forward, and Lavine will probably attend, he said.
"We think that there is more room for discussion, and that's why we're having this forum," Gannon said. "People want to talk about it."
The provost's office did not return repeated calls seeking comment Friday afternoon.
Amanda Palleschi contributed reporting. libbynelson@northwestern.edu
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