NU diplomas misspell name of famed journalism school BY MITCH DUDEK Staff Reporter 
 
 The word "Integrated" was misspelled on about 30 of the 250 diplomas awarded Saturday by the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communication, school spokesman Alan Cubbage said. | Photo courtesy of Kit Fox 
 
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 More than two dozen diplomas handed out over the weekend to graduates of Northwestern’s famed journalism school — long a stickler for spelling — contained an error. 
 
 The word “Integrated” was missing the “n” on about 30 of the 250 diplomas awarded Saturday by the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communication, school spokesman Alan Cubbage said. “We’ll provide new ones for those students,” he said. 
 
 Had a student made the mistake in an assignment, the work would have automatically been tagged with a “Medill F” — a dreaded stamp that is earned by students who commit fact or spelling errors. 
 
 “It sounds really harsh,” said Kit Fox, who graduated Saturday and tweeted a photo of a friend’s diploma that showed the error. “It sounds almost unfair, I guess, but it shows the standards that Medill holds their students to.” 
 
 Desiree Hanford, director of undergraduate education and a Medill lecturer, noted that the diplomas are issued by the university. 
 
 “I think we’re all kind of taking it in really good humor. The irony and the jokes are just too easy to come by,” said Fox, who was quick to note that he had an exceptional experience at Medill. 
 
 Email: mdudek@suntimes.com 
 
 Twitter: @mitchdudek 

 It would appear students can now give Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism a notorious "Medill F" after a typo appeared on dozens of diplomas this weekend. 
 
 Roughly 30 of the more than 250 diplomas handed out Saturday had an error, a school official confirmed to NBC Chicago. 
 
 The typo was first reported by Kit Fox, who was at the ceremony but did not receive one of the misspelled diplomas. Fox took a photo of a friend's diploma, which had the word "integrated" spelled "itegrated," and tweeted it out. 
 
 Fox said students were viewing the error as "humorous." 
 
 "We all took it in good humor," he said. "We're all really aware of the 'Medill F' so the jokes came easy." 
 
 The "Medill F" is a school tradition that gives students a failing grade for a factual error or misspelling. 
 
 "Maybe it was one last-minute test for the grads to catch on their diplomas," Fox said, noting that the rule isn't quite as daunting as it sounds. 
 
 "The best part about it is it seems really harsh when you come in as a freshman but what it’s really teaching you is really getting a 'Medill F' is smaller than getting a factual inaccuracy when you're out in the real world," he said. 
 
 Desiree Hanford, lecturer and director of undergraduate education at the school, said officials plan to issue new diplomas to the impacted students. 
 
 "The diplomas are issued by the university so we will work with the NU registrar's office Monday to provide new diplomas to these students," she said.
– Northwestern University's journalism school has a very low tolerance for spelling errors—at least those made by students. Make such a mistake on any assignment, and you'll automatically receive a "Medill F," the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Turns out those mistakes aren't so hard to make: Northwestern managed to spell its own school's name incorrectly on dozens of diplomas handed out Saturday. They refer to the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Itegrated Marketing Communications; the word should be "Integrated." Fortunately for the school, "I think we’re all kind of taking it in really good humor," says the graduate who tweeted the error. "Maybe it was one last-minute test for the grads to catch on their diplomas," he tells NBC Chicago. Some 250 diplomas were distributed in total; the school plans to give new diplomas to the 30-ish students with erroneous ones, says a rep. (Click to read about another high-profile misspelling.)