The editorial staff at the award-winning Daily Free Press has always been firmly committed to upholding the paper’s longstanding reputation for journalistic integrity — any errors made must be corrected, and all matters of confusion must be clarified. As a columnist for the Free Press, I embrace this noble ethos with arms wide open.
And due to the surprising and unusual amount of errors in yesterday’s edition of the Free Press, the staff has asked me to forfeit my column for one week and instead provide all the necessary corrections. I admit I was slightly disappointed at first, but I suppose my Congress-damning piece on current U.S. chicken farming policies can wait another seven days, especially with the FreeP’s integrity on the line.
So, as requested, here are all the corrections and clarifications to yesterday’s edition of the FreeP, in no particular order.
In the article “Rhett gets a facelift,” our interviewee was John Polmin, not Charlie Kenjamin, as originally written.
In the sports section, the Free Press wrote Boston University beat West Oklahoma Tech in men’s soccer, 3-2. BU did not win 3-2, but lost 2-5. In addition, the men’s soccer team actually played Northeastern University, not West Oklahoma Tech. Finally, there is no West Oklahoma Tech in existence . . . to our knowledge. We apologize to the students of West Oklahoma Tech for the mistake.
Yesterday was Thursday, not Sunday. We should also clarify the year is currently 2007, not 2070. Sorry to anyone at all confused.
On the front page, the photo caption reading, “CAS sophomore Marissa Troling laughs with her friends at BU Central,” is incorrect. In actuality, the photo was taken outside BU Central, closer to Marsh Plaza. Additionally, Marissa Troling is actually a junior in CFA; she is also not a she, but a he named Mark Spencer. Finally, those “friends” laughing with Mark have been confirmed to in fact be his bitter enemies. We apologize to Mr. Spencer and his foes for the small mix-up.
Alaska is still one of the 50 states in the United States and did not secede from the Union. We don’t know why we wrote that.
Our Science Tuesday article, “Zebras just painted horses,” is incorrect and not founded on any actual science. The scientist we interviewed was a student in glasses and a lab coat playing a cruel joke. Zebras are naturally striped.
Yesterday’s headline, “Dean Elmore brings weed to meeting with President Brown,” was slightly misleading. Dean Elmore did not bring any actual marijuana to his private meeting with President Brown — instead, he brought the issue of students smoking marijuana up for discussion. The Free Press in no way alleges either Elmore or Brown own, have owned, smoke or have smoked marijuana, alone or together. If they have, that’s cool. If not, that’s cool, too. We apologize to the Elmore and Brown families for any trouble the off-key headline might have caused.
Staying on the subject of Dean Elmore, we should clarify he did not help “orgynize” a Student Union meeting as stated in yesterday’s article, “Student Union embraces Elmore ideals.” That was simply a typo, and should have read “organize.” Also, Dean Elmore is black, not Caucasian, as originally described in the article. We don’t even know why we felt the need to describe his skin color in the first place. We apologize to the Elmore family for any grief the typo may have created.
The photo caption reading, “BU Lab students search for the cure for ugliness,” is incorrect. The students were merely synthesizing proteins. We at the Free Press do not think any one of the students pictured is really all that ugly; we just assumed that was what they were doing.
Our headline, “Castro finally dead,” cannot be confirmed as of yet, and we admit it was premature. We at the Free Press would like to apologize to Fidel Castro and his family for any confusion we may have caused.
Finally, contrary to a statement made by our editor yesterday, we cannot prove any student has paid his or her BU tuition with “sex and Legos.” According to the Student Accounting Services Office, neither sex, Legos, nor sex and Legos qualify as an acceptable way to pay tuition.
There — all done. I would like to apologize to my loyal readers who looked forward to another envelope-pushing column this week. I have performed my obligatory task, and I will be back in full force next Friday.
Zack Poitras, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, is a weekly columnist for The Daily Free Press. He can be reached at zpoitras@bu.edu.
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