The Daily Texan’s mission has always been to keep our campus community informed with accurate, reliable reporting. We consider it an honor to be able to serve this campus by providing factual information. 

Central to this mission is ensuring our reporting is transparent. For this reason, we are obligated to share the findings of a recent internal investigation that was completed earlier this week. 

In February, it came to our attention during copy edits that a story contained phrasing unique to one published by another publication. We removed these sentences and fact-checked the rest of the story before it was published. The Daily Texan then began investigating all other stories written by this reporter. When it became apparent this was not an isolated incident, this reporter was let go from our staff. 

During this investigation, we reviewed interview audio and transcripts, Google Document edit history and correspondences with sources. Furthermore, although records indicate the reporter did speak to every source listed, we found four stories containing mischaracterized quotes, including one instance when a quote was taken from an Austin American-Statesman article and then falsely attributed to a different person. 

While the reporter maintains these actions were unintentional due to a misunderstanding about the definition of plagiarism, it nonetheless constitutes a serious violation under our participant handbook guidelines. Plagiarism, regardless of intent, goes against our reporting standards. Accordingly, we have removed the following articles from our website:

Fall 2019:

• A Longhorn’s guide to the Hill Country – August 27
• Much Ado About Modernist Networks: The Annette Campbell-White Collection – September 2
• Celebrating 2019 National Hispanic Heritage Month – September 8
• 7 Fashion Trends for Football Season – September 9
• Art student brings color to TCBY's walls with mural of Austin – September 27
• ACL Fest 2019, new and improved – October 4
• Come early, stay loud, bleed burnt orange: The story of Longhorn Hellraisers – October 17
• Students plan to fight for no tampon tax at National Period Day in Austin – October 18
• ‘What’s your Twenty?’ New app brings students together – November 12
• San Antonio’s Fuerza Unida educates and empowers garment workers in Austin – November 25

Spring 2020:

• ‘Bad Boys for Life’ even when it’s time to retire – January 21

The Texan deeply apologizes for this error. Plagiarism under any circumstances goes against our journalistic ethics and standards. We remain committed to upholding these standards and being transparent in our reporting process in order to achieve our mission of providing this campus with factual and accurate information.

Lisa Nhan, Managing Editor