Thursday, 4:30 PM
Crimson suspends copying cartoonist
By Sarah Schweitzer, GLOBE STAFF
A Harvard student newspaper cartoonist has been suspended from the paper and two of her cartoons retracted after editors learned of their resemblance to ones published in other media outlets.
Harvard Crimson staffers found four cartoons by Kathleen Breeden, a sophomore, bore striking similarity to cartoons shown on a website that compiles cartoons from around the world. Crimson editors found that two of the four cartoons were inappropriately similar to two on the website, one by Walt Handelsman of Newsday and another by Stephen Breen of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Breeden could not be reached for comment Monday. Both Handelsman and Breen said in telephone interviews that they planned to take no action against the student cartoonist or the newspaper.
The incident comes less than a week after Harvard Crimson staffers said they discovered that a columnist, Victoria Ilyinsky, had failed to cite literary references that she had lifted from a column posted to the online magazine Slate. Crimson editors terminated Ilyinsky’s column and retracted the problematic article from the paper’s online archives.
William Marra, the Crimson president, said in an interview Monday that editors do not believe the two incidents are connected. He said the paper learned of the cartoonist’s lapse Saturday from a reader; the paper printed a note to readers Monday explaining the situation and steps being taken.
‘‘We’re incredibly disappointed with the apparent incidents of plagiarism that have come to light in the past two editions of the paper,’’ Marra said. ‘‘We are working overtime to put the proper safeguards in place so that this doesn’t ever happen again.’’
Marra said the paper is considering a requirement that all regular content contributors, including columnists and cartoonists, receive training on what constitutes plagiarism and proper citation. Staffers now receive that training, but Marra said that Ilyinsky and Breeden, as outside contributors, had not.
He said the paper also might institute random pre-publication checks of student-written content, using Google.com or turnitin.com, a website that scans works for plagiarism.
The two Breeden cartoons that Crimson editors said breached ethical standards depicted issues far afield from Harvard. An Oct. 25 cartoon showed President Bush next to a donkey, the symbol of the Democratic Party. The donkey holds a sign with the word ‘‘Not’’ and an arrow pointed to Bush. The text says, ‘‘For better or worse, it might finally be a winning strategy.’’
Handelsman drew an Oct. 12 cartoon in Newsday showing Bush astride a donkey wearing a T-shirt with the word ‘‘Not’’ and an arrow pointing to Bush. The text reads, ‘‘... the Democrats find a winning strategy.’’
Handelsman said Breeden would have been better off drawing cartoons that lampoon Harvard, a subject less popular with other cartoonists.
‘‘It’s possible that she saw other cartoonists’ work and inadvertently used them,’’ he said of Breeden.
Breeden also drew a cartoon of Kim Jong Il, resembling one by Breen.
‘‘They are both uncomfortably similar. ... If she is guilty she needs to fess up and atone in some way,’’ said Breen, who added that cartoonists who traffic in the same material are bound to overlap.
Daryl Cagle, who operates the Professional Cartoonists Index website where Crimson editors found the cartoons that Breeden’s resembled, said he had no problem with Breeden’s work and noted that cartoonists often seize on the same gags or symbolic images.
‘‘I can take almost any cartoonist ... and find similar cartoons to some that he did, and put those cartoons side by side, and make a case like the one being made against this Harvard cartoonist,’’ Cagle said.
Sarah Schweitzer can be reached at schweitzer@globe.com.
