Justice arts writer Michael Camp '07 was fired this week after the editorial board discovered he plagiarized a combined total of seven articles and reviews from other Justice reporters and outside sources, including The Boston Phoenix and the Toronto-based Globe and Mail. Readers informed the Justice that Camp lifted last week's review of "Standing-O,"- a dance festival sponsored by B'yachad, the Israeli dance troupe-from last year's coverage of the event by Justice reporter Jenn Rubin '06.

The dances that Camp mentioned in the article-"Malkat Hacatunot," "Ata Totach" and "Darkeynu"-were the same dances described in Rubin's article. Alyssa Krop '04, the co-president of Adagio, which also performed in "Standing-O," said this year's event featured entirely different dances.

"There were no specific names mentioned [in the article]," Krop said. "It also mentioned dances that were performed last year and not this year. So, we checked last year's edition and sure enough, it was the same."

Camp also misinformed readers, writing, "the first-rate Israeli dancing of the night was accompanied by first rate a cappella music from Brandeis Manginah."

The a cappella group did not perform in this year's event and a group that did perform, Proscenium, received no mention.

Rubin expressed anger and disbelief upon discovering that her story was lifted. She said she did not expect this type of behavior, especially from someone of the Justice staff.

"It makes me sad because I know [Michael] Camp and he's a nice person," Rubin said. "The fact that he could do something morally wrong is frustrating. Writing for the Justice is a privilege and should not be taken lightly."



Taking plagiarism outside of Brandeis

Camp also lifted work from outside newspapers such as The Daily Advertiser based in Lafayette, La. and The Boston Phoenix.

In his film review of Scary Movie 3, entitled "Funny As Usual But Still Not Scary" in the Oct. 31 issue of the Justice, Camp lifted the second paragraph from Peter Sobczynski's October 2003 review of the film published in The Critic Doctor, an online publication.

In the same article, Camp's third paragraph was a word-for-word copy of a review published in the Daily Advertiser in December 2003.

Camp wrote a review of the film Master and Commander, entitled "Crowe is brilliant in 'Master,'" in the same issue of the Justice. He lifted most of the movie review from Gregory Weinkauf's review in the All Movie Portal and from Rob Vaux's in Flipside: Movie Emporium, both online publications.

Except for two paragraphs, Camp lifted parts of reviews in from these two publications. He then seemed to have rearranged the first and last sentences of his article.

In Camp's Oct. 14, 2003 Justice review, "New Interpretation of Shakespeare Only Partly Successful," he took large portions of six out of ten paragraphs from Carolyn Clay's Oct. 3, 2003 review, "Finite Variety," which appeared in the Phoenix.

Camp also lifted CD reviews, including the two reviews he wrote last month.

In the Feb. 3 issue of the Justice, Camp wrote an article entitled "Stereolab's Newest Puts Them On Track For Mainstream Success."

Camp lifted the opening paragraph from Dave Simpson's review in the British daily The Guardian.

Camp's entire first paragraph is identical to Simpson's, save one feature. Simpson wrote how he believed a band's hard-earned fan following could be easily destroyed, "wiped out overnight by the merest dalliance with a Rolling Stone cover shoot or a Top 40 hit."

Camp's piece reads the same way, only he replaced "Rolling Stone" with "Smash Hits."

In the Feb. 10 issue of the Justice, Camp lifted "OK Go! Get Off To a Slow Start With Debut," from Christina Crippes' review in The Daily Free Press, the student newspaper of Boston University, as well as Weblog entry from someone identified as 'beckytcy' on eopinions.com.

In that article, 10 out of 12 paragraphs were taken from the Weblog and the remaining two were from the Daily Free Press.



The Justice in shock

According to arts editors Rachel Resnick '06 and Sara Tenenbaum '06, Camp's culpability is indisputable.

Before Camp resigned, Resnick and Tenenbaum said there was no call for anyone on the board -or Justice readers-to suspect him.

Resnick said she wants to trust her writers and had no reason to suspect Camp because his articles were factually correct. She also said everything he plagiarized was an off-campus review like movies and CDs, using very obscure sources.

"We couldn't have known he was plagiarizing these articles due to the fact that most of the sources he lifted from were obscure sources," Resnick said. "It wasn't obvious until we started doing research."

Tenenbaum also felt that prior to last week's article, she had no reason to suspect Camp. She said Camp's seemingly high caliber of work also enabled him to become promoted to assistant arts editor.

"We thought he was one of the better writers," Tenenbaum said. "He decided he could not handle the work at the same time we decided he could not handle the work. We then terminated his term as assistant. However, knowing what we do now about him, there is no way he could have continued in that position regardless."

Editor-in-Chief Stephen Heyman '06 expressed regret at what happened and wrote a letter of apology to each news source from where Camp plagiarized his articles.

"I was devastated," Heyman said. "I think we take for granted, and rightfully so, that when a reporter or a critic hands in a piece of writing, it's his or her own. That we now have to question that is a terrible shame."

But Heyman said Camp's plagiarism should be treated as an anomaly, "one that we will treat very seriously, but that we don't expect from our writers in the future," he said. "If anything, what's happened and is happening to Michael [Camp] should serve as a warning for all our writers."

Resnick agreed with Heyman, saying that while little more can be done to mend the matter, hopefully people will learn by example.

"I just hope that this ends up being a good learning experience for the future and that writers think twice about doing what [Camp] did," Resnick said. "Not only will they suffer consequences, but it's just bad, especially in the real world of journalism."



Camp looks back with regret

When asked to comment, Camp had only words of remorse to offer both the Brandeis community and the Justice.

"I fooled myself into thinking I was a journalist," Camp said. "I wasn't ready to make this commitment and wouldn't have joined the Justice, in retrospect, had I known."

Camp attributed his behavior as resulting from academic and extracurricular pressures. Camp also said he was not able to attend events that he claimed to have covered.

"I missed the 'Standing-O' event because of a rehearsal and I didn't want to let them down," Camp said. "It was a combination of things. I wont say it's the right decision or that it was ethically viable. I was doing too much and I took on too many articles and was getting late with deadlines. I don't want to make an excuse, but this is my reasoning."

Camp said he plagiarized because he could not think of what to write

"It was a last minute thing I turned to," Camp said. "I would try to write an article for past the due date and, in the past, when I couldn't write anything profound, I couldn't formulate my own ideas so I turned to other people's words."

Camp said he regrets his actions.

"I would take it all back if I could," Camp said. " I want to apologize to B'Yachad [the name of the Israeli dance troupe that performed at "Standing-O"], The Justice and especially to the editors for having misplaced their trust in me."



Comments from the crowd

All of the groups who performed in "Standing-O" felt upset and betrayed by Camp's actions.

Ballroom Dance Team president Daniel Ludevig '06 said that Camp's false coverage was disrespectful to the troupes who, according to Ludevig, worked tirelessly to make "Standing-O" happen.

"My reaction was more of disappointment because a lot of people put in effort to do a show," Ludevig said. "It is usually nice for them to send an article from their school newspaper to family and friends, but this incident made it difficult to do so."

B'Yachad president Elizabeth Savar '06 agreed with Ludevig's statement and also felt hurt.

"This is our only show of the year and it feels like we're being disrespected by the newspaper by not having a good representation of it," Savar said. "This event should have been just as important as any other."

Krop felt hurt not only for her own group, Adagio, but also for B'Yachad.

"I am upset for B'Yachad and the other groups that performed," Krop said. "I was looking forward to picking up the paper and reading an honest report on my performance, but now I am disappointed."

Heyman said that any form of plagiarism is unacceptable.

"Especially after Stephen Glass and Jayson Blair, plagiarism-even on the collegiate level-is unacceptable."

Heyman's comments reflected those of Prof. Michael Socolow (AMST), who added that the newspaper must now also come to terms with the fact that one of its writers has erred and it must try to reconnect with its readership.

"When a newspaper is honest and forthcoming about its failings with its readers, it serves to strengthen the bond with the community," Socolow said. "The New York Times understood its integrity was at stake with the Jayson Blair correction-that is why it was so detailed and lengthy.