The dean of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism came out of an official investigation with a clean bill of health Friday, but many students and faculty say the controversy over his use of unattributed quotes is far from finished.

The explanation by Provost Dan Linzer that Dean John Lavine had accurately captured the essence of student sentiments in his magazine columns, and that there was no evidence of fabrication, left some dissatisfied.

"I'm kind of taken aback by the assertion that there's no evidence these quotes were fabricated," said David Spett, the Medill senior whose column for The Daily Northwestern student newspaper questioned Lavine's quotes.

Spett has said he re-interviewed all 29 students from the class in question, and none claimed ownership of the comments.

David Protess, a journalism professor at Medill, said he conducted his own interviews with the five members of the class who were then juniors and potential sources of the quotations. He said none of them had been contacted by the ad hoc panel of alumni, including former Chicago Tribune publisher and Tribune Co. executive Jack Fuller, who conducted the investigation for the university.