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University Of Colorado At Boulder Responds To Issues Generated By Campus Press Column
University of Colorado at Boulder Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson
speaks during a forum on Wed., Feb. 27. The forum opened a CU
community dialogue between student groups, staff of the Campus Press
and CU administrators. Peterson pledged a series of actions to
address concerns about campus climate, diversity
and inclusion.
[Photo by Glenn J. Asakawa/University of Colorado]
On this page you will find links to information that will provide greater context on the controversial column published by the CU Campus Press on Feb. 18, 2008, the response of the University of Colorado at Boulder administration and community to that piece, and other helpful resources.
The Campus Press is a student-managed, online publication published as part of a for-credit class in the CU School of Journalism and Mass Communication. (See chronology to the right.) Under the guidelines of the College Media Advisers organization, the university does not engage in prior restraint of publishing; that is, the instructor reviews published material for learning purposes but does not act to censor the material prior to publication.
Earlier this semester, a column entitled, "If it's war they want..." was published in the Campus Press. This article, which was neither vetted nor edited by the student leadership of the Campus Press to the educational standards set by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, created considerable controversy both here at CU and nationwide, as many found it very offensive. More>>
In a public forum last week our student leaders brought forth a number of concrete and productive suggestions to improve our campus climate of inclusiveness for people of all cultures and backgrounds. The forum resulted from a hurtful opinion piece by a student in the online student publication, the Campus Press. The column, which outraged our entire campus community, was an affront to our efforts to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for all of our students, faculty and staff, regardless of their ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, political perspectives or individual capabilities.
The column opened wounds and some say it is evidence of a pervasive climate of intolerance here at CU. While I believe that we have made progress in the past several years, I recognize that we still have a tremendous amount of work to do to create the type of environment and campus community we aspire to. This issue is one that strikes at the core of our humanity and, as such, is one that we all share and can only solve by working together. Last week's open forum is a start.
The forum was attended by leaders from student groups, the Campus Press, the University leadership, and the dean, faculty and students from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. It focused on a productive dialogue of how we can continue to work together to resolve these issues. More>>
On behalf of the University of Colorado at Boulder, I want to apologize to the members of Colorado’s Asian and Asian-American communities for a satirical column written by a student columnist at the CU Campus Press – the Web-based student news outlet managed by the University of Colorado School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The column was a poor attempt at social satire laden with offensive references, stereotypes and hateful language. It was not properly labeled as either satire or commentary, and readers were left with the impression that the author spoke for the collective staff and leadership of the Campus Press, and perhaps even the University of Colorado. More>>
I had a frank 90-minute meeting with five editors of the Campus Press this morning, and I want to share with you some “next steps.” We were joined in this meeting by CU-Boulder Spokesperson Bronson Hilliard, Campus Press Manager Amy Herdy, and SJMC Diversity Coordinator Dave Martinez. As you no doubt have learned by now, the student editors believed that Max Karson’s piece on Asians on campus was a piece of satire. Once they realized that most readers either didn’t see the satire at all or saw the satire and found it in poor taste, they have apologized publicly. They apologized again this morning in this meeting, as did Amy. More>>
From the Campus Press:
The opinions section of the Campus Press has been suspended until a formal opinions policy is finalized.
The Campus Press is in the process of organizing an open, public forum to address diversity sensitivity in our news coverage in which we invite students to voice the direction they think the publication should go.
The Campus Press staff is rewriting the publication's ethics policy, which will include addressing diversity issues in our coverage. More>>
Email Contacts:
Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson
Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement
Dean, School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Campus Press Letters to the Editor
Office of News Services
584 UCB • Boulder, CO 80309-0584 • 303-492-6431 • FAX: 303-492-3126 • cunews@colorado.edu
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