On Tuesday, columnist Kim Randall confirmed she had fabricated a quotation attributed to a student in a Sept. 24 column, “Read, reread leases before signing them.”

The Northern Star strives for accuracy and treats fabrication as a serious offense. The columnist no longer works with the Northern Star effective Tuesday.

The Northern Star staff will investigate if any other work by the columnist was fabricated. If more instances of fabrication are found, further notices will be published in the Northern Star and placed online.

The Editorial Board has decided it will not remove the column that contains the fabricated quotation from NorthernStar.info because it wishes to recognize this mistake. Instead, the board will post a notice at the top of the column informing readers of the fabrication.

The newspaper’s Editorial Board will continue to host staff meetings to further discuss what measures it takes to prevent fabrication and if those measures need to be changed.

The staff sincerely apologizes and thanks its readers for their understanding as this matter is investigated. Please direct questions and comments to Editor in Chief Kelly Bauer at [email protected].