Kathleen Breeden, the cartoonist at the center of case of plagiarism at Harvard, has come out saying that only one of the cartoons was copied and the others are her original ideas. She even goes as far as saying she’s willing to take a lie detector test to prove it.
Breeden said she takes full responsibility for the similarity to Handelsman’s cartoon but cited “mitigating factors” she would not disclose.
“I know in the one case with the Handelsman cartoon, I had seen that before, so I support The Crimson’s decision to pull the cartoon,” Breeden said in an interview yesterday. Both Breeden’s Oct. 25 cartoon and Handelsman’s cartoon depict President Bush and a democratic donkey standing side by side.
Breeden said that she had apologized and explained the situation to Handelsman in an e-mail.