Not the kind of clip you want in your portfolio

[pallister]

If a college paper is supposed to be a precursor to real life

If only college itself had anything to do with real life.

This is a college campus, where common sense and decency don't apply. If this was the worst thing expressed on a by a student, faculty member, etc., I might be surprised. But this, unfortunately, is what you get at places where idiots and cowards of all stripes wrap themselves in the First Amendment.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Way to pin this on liberalism, bunkie. This is not a matter of conservatism or liberalism, but of idiocy.

 

[Ellis Redding]

Does this paper have an advisor? I know ours did in college and she read over the entire thing before we were allowed to ship it off. I can't see a faculty advisor reading this and saying, "great job kid."

It obviously doesn't have any copy editors. Hence the use of the word "towards" in the lede. Any editor with a functioning brain would have pulled this story, then slapped this forker upside the head. He tried to be cute and write his own little "Modest Proposal," but hopefully he's kept from practicing any form of journalism in the future.

 

[pallister]

Way to pin this on liberalism, bunkie. This is not a matter of conservatism or liberalism, but of idiocy.

Where did I mention liberalism? Seems to me you're the one with political leanings on the brain. I did mention idiots, however, and I thought the phrase "of all stripes" would suggest I was painting with a broad brush. Guess you didn't get it.
















Of course, liberals who can't handle the real world do often find safe haven on college campuses. Better?

 

[audreyld]

I think he should be canned, primarily because his work no longer merits the public trust of his readership.

Should he be expelled, though? No. I don't think that's the slightest bit logical.

 

[Oz]

Wow, that's one lousy satire. Dude deserves any misfortune from the fallout that comes his way.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

Seems this paper fashions itself as the Onion:

http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/editorial/editorial_item.asp?NewsID=144

"Before anything else is said, we must make clear to our readers that, as we write this, the news has just broken. Nothing has been proven, substantiated or confirmed. It very well may or may not be proven, substantiated or confirmed before The Recorder hits stands on Wednesday. Nonetheless, the Iranian government has announced that their scientists have discovered a cure for AIDS.
According to the admittedly suspect Iranian Fars news agency, “After seven long years of arduous work, Iranian scientists here on Saturday introduced a medicine which cures Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.” Fars went on to report, “The drug named ‘IMOD' is completely effective and safe with no proved side effects.”

In fairness, Fars also recently reported news that a UFO crashed in Iran and claimed that Israel was practicing genocide against their Lebanese neighbors with poison-filled birthday balloons, so their claim that Iranian scientists have discovered a cure for AIDS must be taken with a grain of salt. Even so, if this claim is proven true, serious questions will be raised."

They cannot possibly have an adviser.

 

[ballscribe]

Clearly a poor first attempt at satire by a guy who probably has to resort to the referred-to subject matter to, er, feed the beast. I presume he typed it with his right hand.

 

[Riddick]

What disturbs me is not one, but at least two people on that newspaper staff didn't find anything wrong with the column.
I'm curious what the female reporters/editors on that staff thought of it and if they read it before it went to press.

 

[sportswriter not a junky]

I agree with everyone that the piece in every way, shape and form is horrible.

However, that was an opinion column and what was written is the columnist's personal opinion. Satire or not is irrelavent. His opinion is what he was hired for, his opinion is what he gave. He deserves any nasty email, look or physical beating he may get on campus. But there are no grounds here for firing or expulsion.

 

[Eagleboy]

The thing that I can't seem to understand is not that it was written -- I've seen some stupid things in my brief time -- but the fact that anywhere from one to perhaps four editors at some point (presumably) looked it over and was like, "Okay, this is good! Send it out!"

It's one thing for the kid to write it and get it published, then face the outrage. But I point just as much responsibility at the editor. I highly doubt this kid was the writer, the copy editor, did the layout and is the editor. Those people should be equally at fault.

 

[Orange Hat Bobcat]

We all make mistakes. This mistake, of course, was pretty egregious.

But the kid is in college, he's still learning. Presumably, he will have learned enough from this to draft his ideas and words a bit more carefully before he writes another column. I hope.

But let's not throw the kid under the bus. As a few others said, he wrote it, yes, but others likely read it, edited it, laid it out, proofed the page and OKed it for publication. That's quite a process. The blame rests most heavily on the kid's shoulders, but it rests on others' shoulders, too.

Don't fire him. Don't expel him. If anything, send him to sensitivity training, send him to talk with a rape victim or, and this might jar him even more, a rapist. My guess is the kid has neither raped nor been raped, and had no idea about the depth of his topic. He might be book smart, but he sure ain't street smart.

Let him learn. He might be a stupid kid, but he's still a kid.