Evidence For Cartoonist’s Firing Is Flimsy At Best

To the editors:

The Crimson’s decision to fire Kathleen Breeden is hasty and ill-justified.

Of the two cartoons that were cited in your Oct. 30 editors’ note as exhibiting overt plagiarism, Breeden’s Oct. 25 cartoon is a particularly weak example. Professional cartoonist Daryl Cagle points out on his website that a “t-shirt or sign pointing at something with a comment ‘I’m with stupid’ is a recurring…theme” among cartoonists.

I’m also curious as to why the editorial staff felt it was necessary to mention Breeden’s Oct. 11 cartoon (with Kim Jong Il’s hair depicted as a mushroom cloud) when the editors’ note itself states that this image was employed by at least four different artists. Breeden’s only crime is that in a select few of her pieces she went for an obvious gag, an offense quite common in editorial cartooning, worthy of a reprimand, at most, but certainly not a pink slip.

It’s understandable that, given recent events, The Crimson’s editorial board is jumping at the chance to come down hard on a case of alleged plagiarism. It’s a shame, though, that the newspaper would jettison a talented artist on such flimsy evidence.

ROXANNE PALMER

Providence, R.I.

October 31, 2006

The writer is an editorial cartoonist for the Brown Daily Herald.