On Feb. 1, 2019, it came to my attention that a story written by a former staff member, Roxie Srikoulabouth, for the Fall 2018 issue of The George-Anne Reflector Magazine was entirely false. All interviews in the story were fabricated. Quotations from and information about several Georgia Southern University students were fabricated by this writer.

The following students, about each of whom the writer made up quotes and information, requested their names appear in this letter: Xinwei Gao, who was identified as Vivian Gao in the article and falsely identified as being from Hong Kong, Ying-Chen Lu, Jiahe Li and Yu Chia Chang.

I have removed the online version of the article, titled “Culture Shock: International students share their experiences,” from this website. Fabrication is not tolerated at The George-Anne Reflector. This is a matter of deep and unforgivable disappointment for me personally and for the entire staff who worked so hard last semester to produce a magazine, which is now permanently ruined by this error. This blatant fabrication of interviews with real people is an extreme offense to myself, fellow staff and the people whose names and trust were violated by this staff member.

We apologize and deeply regret publishing the fabricated interviews. I cannot fathom the real pain and embarrassment this may have caused the people falsely quoted in this article. We are taking steps to ensure that this never happens again.

Sincerely,

Blakeley Bartee

Editor-in-Chief

Update from Feb. 7, 2019: A list of some of the students about whom false information and quotes were written requested their names appear in this letter. The current version of this statement honors this request.