For 77 years, students at The Ithacan have aspired to the professional standards expected of full-time, practicing journalists in the industry. Often, we succeed. But in the times that we don’t, we are reminded, sometimes painfully, that we are still students. Regardless of the number of awards we win, the quality of our writing or the extent of our coverage, we are still learning, and in the process, make mistakes.

Last week was one of those times.

Our front-page story, “A Thin Line,” examined the lives of students struggling with eating disorders. One of the students featured in the story was Dani Stoller, whom our writer characterized as suffering from an eating disorder.

Dani’s name was given to our reporter because of Dani’s role in “Dying to be Thin,” a play to be performed Friday and Saturday and sponsored by Active Minds to raise awareness of eating disorders in our culture. An interview followed, in which our reporter, who believed Dani’s name was given to her as an eating disorder survivor, assumed that to be the case and never directly confirmed it with Dani.

The reporter’s assumption was mistaken: Dani Stoller does not have, and has never suffered from, an eating disorder.

It was then we were powerfully reminded of the importance of having nothing less than absolute clarity with our sources and of our obligation to verify and confirm every detail we report, regardless of how obvious it may appear.

As journalists and as fellow students, we deeply regret any hardship we have caused Dani Stoller and offer her our sincerest apologies.