Hot¹ Penn Columnist Fired For Plagiarism

Ahh, college columnists. You guys crack me up with your righteousness, your fluffy column topics, your ridiculous headshots (note: a link to my old headshot was supposed to go here, but I couldn’t find it), your wordiness and your plagiarism.

Aww, yeah! That last one isn’t the usual for college columnists, but the Daily Pennsylvanian’s Jamie France was fired from the paper for copying portions of her column “All-nighters: A survival guide” from “9 Top Caffeine Fixes,” found on Yahoo! Food in March.

Apparently, “copying” parts of your article is verboten in journalism, even collegiate journalism. (The correct way is to blockquote your “copied” text it and then add spiteful comments afterward.) Both articles cite nine different drinks to keep yourself awake, and the column and the charticle are exactly the same.

But maybe the DP’s editors should have noticed something was a bit off with France’s column. To wit, number eight:

8. Spike Shooter: Desperate times call for desperate measures. I’ve personally never heard of it, but any 8.4-oz .can that can house 300 mg of caffeine without a single calorie has my approval. Note the label that reads, “Don’t drink if under 18,” and “Drink only half a can at a time.”

I’ve “personally never heard” of this drink, which is why I recommend it. Thanks, Yahoo! Food!

¹ Unlike other media outlets, Philadelphia Will Do gets to the meat of the issue right away — often in the first word of the headline. And, so, judging from her column photo, Jamie France is indeed what they call “hot.”

Daily Pennsylvanian Orders Venti No-Foam Chai Plagiarism Latte [IvyGate]
Jamie France | All-nighters: A survival guide [Daily Pennsylvanian]
9 Top Caffeine Fixes [Yahoo! Food]