Chelsea Snyder, opinion editor of The BG News, was fired early Wednesday morning for plagiarizing much of her column on Tuesday, April 26.
This was brought to the attention of Editor-in-Chief Carrie Whitaker late Tuesday evening by an online reader, who found distinct similarities in an opinion post on www.somethingawful.com.
“The minute it was brought to my attention I knew I had to fire her,” Whitaker said. “It broke down everything I believe in journalistically. It’s just something you can’t stand for in this profession.”
The majority of Snyder’s column, titled, “Pope’s Nazi ties misunderstood,” was taken from a post on the Web site by author Zachary Gutierrez. Snyder made no attribution to Gutierrez in her column.
Snyder had been chosen by the University Board of Student Publications on April 19 to serve as The BG News summer Editor-in-Chief, but Snyder was relieved of that position on Wednesday as well.
Bob Bortel, director of Student Publications, will be selecting an interim summer Editor-in-Chief for The BG News by the end of today.
“We’re trying to move the process along quickly because the summer staff selections are in progress,” Bortel said.
The Board will meet in May to discuss any further action against Snyder, and to evaluate the choice of interim editor-in-chief.
Snyder — a sophomore journalism major — began working at The BG News in fall 2004 as an opinion columnist, and was named Opinion Editor for the spring 2005 semester.
“Very good people sometimes make very bad mistakes,” Bortel said. “Chelsea Snyder was a strong contributor on staff, and moving up on staff. But there is zero tolerance for plagiarism.”
Snyder has been suspended from participation at The BG News until the spring 2006 semester.