By Mark Goldblatt on 4.24.06 @ 12:05AM
Veep Cheney is fair game. Crips gangsters are not.
In its February 28 issue, the Second Supper Alternative
News, a satirical student-run journal at the University of
Wisconsin, La Crosse (UW-L), published an article titled "Cheney
Kills Five Crips in Inner-City Hunting Accident." The piece poked
fun at Vice President Dick Cheney after his recent hunting
accident, depicting him as a would-be gang member and "stone cold
killa." The UW-L Student Association was so outraged by the article
that it passed a resolution cutting Second Supper's press
run from 2,000 to 60 -- in effect, a deathblow since the journal
depends on outside advertising for its funds.
The resolution was a clear violation of Second Supper's
First Amendment right to publish political satire. Still, given the
knee-jerk leftism rampant on campuses nationwide, the Student
Association's decision to punish a gratuitous swipe at a Republican
vice president seemed almost courageous.
"Seemed" being the operative word.
It turns out the Student Association had no problem with
Second Supper's potshot (so to speak) at Cheney. What
bothered them was the stereotyping of gang members. The resolution
condemned the article's "racist, sexist, homophobic, ablest (sic),
anti-Semitists (sic) speech" on the grounds that it would "threaten
the recruitment and retention of students from underrepresented
groups." The resolution was sponsored by a grammatically-challenged
collection of whiners calling itself "Students Silenced by
Privilege."
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)
intervened on Second Supper's behalf, petitioning the
college administration and demanding that the press run be
restored, and the Student Association last week relented -- noting,
however, that "directly and indirectly students, faculty, and staff
have been hurt by the language the paper publishes."
Sounds like the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse is doing quite
a job educating the leaders of tomorrow.
Mark Goldblatt teaches at Fashion Institute of
Technology of the State University of New York (MGold57@aol.com).
topics:
Education, Satire
