The Boston University community has suffered the loss of one of its members, a School of Management junior who was pursuing a career in finance. As reported in the online news bulletin, BU Today, which is overseen by the university’s administrators, Andrew Lawrence died of natural causes, and the Boston Police Department is quoted in the story as having told this to the reporter.

This, however, was not the case.

While Lawrence may indeed have died of natural causes, when speaking to a Daily Free Press reporter, the Boston Police Department denied it had made any statement indicating the death was due to natural causes. The official statement released by the BPD’s media relations department was that the student died due to “unknown causes” – an entirely different category.

It certainly comes as a shock that a 20-year-old student would have died of natural causes, and media outlets should wait until the full information is available before disclosing the cause of death. It would be premature to speculate the cause of death at such an early stage in the investigation, and BU Today should have been more responsible in its reporting of such a sensitive university affair.

The author, Brian Fitzgerald, who is also the associate editor of BU Today, told a Daily Free Press reporter that the cause of death was “handed down” to him, and that he did not speak with Boston Police directly. But by whom was it “handed down,” and what is the actual source?

It now seems that, rather than prioritizing responsible journalism, BU Today’s editors care more about protecting the administration from unwanted publicity than reporting news accurately. In addition to reporting an unfounded cause of death without the proper attribution, the online news bulletin also states that Lawrence is from Westtown, Pa., when actually he is from West Chester, Pa., his family told this newspaper.

There was concern during the early stages of this semester that BU Today would prioritize protecting the administration rather than report accurate news, and this concern now seems likely to be true.

It is a shame that, if this were the case, BU is ignoring the very principles of journalism it teaches in its highly regarded Department of Journalism, where students are taught the ethical responsibilities that come with being a journalist. And there is nothing ethical about reporting false information.

As of late Sunday, the story remains the headline for more than two days in a row, without any appended correction. BU Today’s editors should retract it, and follow up with a more accurate, properly attributed account of what happened as the information becomes available.