UNC's student paper is the target of a sit-in

News And Observer ^ | Jane Stancill

[SmoothTalker]

"More than a dozen students marched into The Daily Tar Heel offices at UNC-Chapel Hill and plopped down on the floor to protest the newspaper's publication of an editorial cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad. They said they wouldn't leave until the newspaper apologized.

"A student newspaper serves the students," Salma Mirza, a Muslim student from Buffalo, N.Y., said as she read a statement to DTH staffers. "It should not attack students under the pretense of 'promoting open dialogue.' This decision marginalized and belittled many students, and we are banding together in the fear that the precedent of this incident will lead to further attacks on the student body."

"The newspaper's editor, Ryan Tuck, said the protesters were welcome to stay in the offices as long as they did not disrupt the work of student journalists. He said he was sorry that anyone was personally offended by the cartoon, "but we will not issue an apology for its publication.""

"The sit-in followed nearly two weeks of campus debate about the cartoon, drawn by a student cartoonist and published by the newspaper Feb. 9. The Muslim Students Association immediately called for an apology and sponsored a forum last week about the issue."

[Overtaxed]

You mean, you miss Woody's pork skin commercials?

What about Beefmaster Franks?

:)

[Clioman]

"The newspaper's editor, Ryan Tuck, said the protesters were welcome to stay in the offices as long as they did not disrupt the work of student journalists."

Wouldn't it be fun to have lunch delivered to the office? Ribs and pulled pork, of course, or if everybody was working against a deadline, maybe just some ham sandwiches and a big bag of pork rinds...

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Salma Mirza:

Another fame-seeking college student organizing a pathetic protest as part of her resume. She'd do anything for the money and power and recognition being a popular journalist brings...you know...all those 'worldly' things that are so far beneath the pious, as she claims to be.

[heldmyw]

Thank you for the T.P.!

I am of the impression that any group so thin-skinned is doomed to a life of misery... after all, anyone can draw!

[MikeD]

Oh man, I miss me some Beefmasters out here in Texas.

Seriously, though, I can't help but be reminded of the time the Carolina Review posted a picture of the Student Body President in devil horns on the front page. Wacky hijinks ensued...

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

"The editorial cartoon, drawn by senior Philip McFee, showed a turban-wearing Muhammad expressing dismay over worldwide violence that erupted after publication of Danish cartoons depicting the prophet."

Any chance we could find a link to the cartoon? I'm not having much luck at either NewsObserver.com or www.dailytarheel.com. Go figure.

[Alia]

NC *Ping*

Please FRmail Constitution Day OR TaxRelief OR Alia if you want to be added to or removed from this North Carolina ping list.

[Darth Reagan]

http://www.dailytarheel.com/media/paper885/news/2006/02/09/Opinion/Cartoon.For.February.9-1605213.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.dailytarheel.com