Plagiarism at The Crimson

I have great respect for the Harvard Crimson and many of its student writers -- at least most of the time.

But plagiarism is now rearing its ugly head at the newspaper, which is staffed by students of Harvard College. There have been two recent incidents, one involving a columnist who lifted passages from other sources without attribution, and the other an editorial cartoonist whose inspiration apparently came from Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index, a website which features some of the best editorial cartoons from around the country.

The Crimson, to its credit, has been transparent about the details; you can read about both incidents here.

But I have to ask: If these students can't find the inspiration to do original creative work for the newspaper, how do they handle difficult writing assignments for their Harvard College classes?