Editors of online student publication sent to diversity training after posting “hateful” anti-Asian column
Feb 24th, 2008 by Rob
The editorial staff of an online student newspaper at the University of Colorado at Boulder has been ordered to undergo diversity training after the paper published a column containing anti-Asian remarks.
The column, which was initially defended as a satirical piece, advocated that students “hunt” for Asian students at the school, “hog-tie” them, and force them to participate in demeaning activities until “the Asian spirit has been broken.”
The university chancellor apologized Wednesday on behalf of the Campus Press and columnist Max Karsen, adding that “while his column is unquestionably protected under the First Amendment, the sentiments he has expressed are wounding and damaging to a community we hold dear.”
On Friday, deans from CU’s journalism school recommended that all of the online paper’s editors meet with the school’s diversity coordinator. According to Boulder newspaper The Daily Camera, the Campus press editors also agreed to take part in a series of initiatives geared toward raising awareness of cultural diversity:
Invite student organizations to meet face-to-face with the editors.
Adopt an “opinions policy,” with standards and procedures for determining the acceptability of opinion columns or reader-generated content.
Schedule a series of diversity-awareness workshops for the entire staff with the CU Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement, with participation of professional journalists of color.
Host a series of workshops for opinion writing and editing, to be presented by experienced professional opinion editors.
The incident brings up once again the question of how a university should draw a line between controversial, racist speech and a free student press. In this case, rather than restraining what the paper can publish, the school’s administrators “recommended” that the staff become more familiar with terms and issues that could be seen as offensive within the campus community.
Several bloggers have been following the Campus Press events, coming out strongly against the student columnist and the editors who ran the article. These observers suggest the position that Karsen’s views are protected under the First Amendment is misguided, and that the supporters of this point of view are “ignorant of… the fact that all speech is not protected speech.”
Another issue is the decision to delete the comments linked to the original column, in which there had been a heated debate between people in both camps. The deleted comments are still cached (for now) on Google.
