The Red & Black’s recent admission that it published a column that was in large part plagiarized from a nationally bestselling book is, to some degree, an embarrassment for the paper.

However, I applaud The Red & Black’s editorial staff for quickly correcting the error and condemning an act of intellectual fraud.

I did my own research independent of The Red & Black and compared Bernie Tokarz’s Thursday article side-by-side with pages 137 and 138 of Mark Levin’s book, Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto, and I was floored by the results. In his editorial, over 225 words were nearly identical to Mr. Levin’s text.

Mr. Tokarz – who claims that he was “paraphrasing” some of Mr. Levin’s thoughts – only sought to cover his tracks by changing the order of words or adding additional adjectives. Take the sentence from page 137 of Mr. Levin’s book, in which he wrote, “.companies that emit more than their allotted amount would face stiff penalties and fines.”

Compare this to Mr. Tokarz, who stated, “These job-creating companies that emit more than the amount allotted would face stiff fines and penalties.”

It gets worse – take another example from page 138 of Mr. Levin’s book: “The federal government would need to create a vast IRS-type bureaucracy to set allowance levels and process permits, collect data, monitor and audit compliance, investigate alleged violations, and ultimately enforce emission standards and levels through penalties, fines and litigation.”

Mr. Tokarz writes, “The federal government would need to create a vast IRS-like bureaucracy with the power to set allowance levels, process emission permits, monitor compliance, investigate alleged violations and ultimately enforce emission standards through penalties, fines and litigation.”

Additionally, there are 10 other sentences that are just as brazenly “paraphrased.” If you don’t believe me, feel free to read it for yourself. I have even provided The Red & Black with a copy of my research.

Back in 2003, former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair was discovered to have fabricated numerous details in articles he wrote for the Times over the course of several years. Many asked how such a deception could be accomplished at such a credible newspaper.

It is clear that in journalism a certain amount of trust must be put in those that contribute to the public dialogue. This trust is drawn from the assumption that those that seek to have their ideas published are well aware that their thoughts will remain forever in the public domain, and that any lies or misrepresentations will eventually be discovered at the cost of the author’s credibility.

In this case, The Red & Black’s trust was clearly violated and the perpetrator will have to live with those consequences, whether in his career or in his personal stature as a man of integrity (or lack thereof).

After Mr. Blair’s case was brought to light, the Times published a 7,000 word front-page article vividly detailing all known offenses in an effort to correct the record fully and completely. The article ends with a quote from former Times Executive Editor A. M. Rosenthal: “When you’re wrong in this profession, there is only one thing to do, and that is get right as fast as you can.”

That is exactly what this paper did, and I would encourage Mr. Tokarz to do the same – publicly.

- Byron Crowe is a junior from Dunwoody majoring in bio-chemistry and history.