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Editor's fate in the hands of CSU panel
Daily Camera Online, via Drudge ^ | September 27, 2007 | Ericka Gonzalez

Posted on 09/27/2007 8:59:10 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner

For some, it was a matter of protecting free speech.

For others, it was about punishing the editor of a campus newspaper, who they believed damaged the credibility of Colorado State University nationally when he decided to publish the F-word in the school newspaper.

"Our university will take a hit for the poor choices of one student," said Chelsea Penoyer, chairwoman of the College Republicans at CSU.

Penoyer was one of more than 300 students and members of the staff and community who attended a hearing Wednesday night of CSU's Board of Student Communications, the governing body that will decide whether to fire The Rocky Mountain Collegian's editor, J. David McSwane, for his approval of an editorial that used profanity.

(snip)

McSwane said he and his staff also discussed the potential fallout that could result from the editorial, but he didn't "think it would be as bad as it is."

Jeff Browne, director of student media, said that if all of the advertisers who threatened to pull their business do, the school could lose $50,000 of advertising. The newspaper's staff has taken a 10 percent pay cut because of lost revenue.

Many of those calling for -McSwane's firing Wednesday night focused on the financial damage caused by the editorial.

"I could potentially see this trend leading us into destruction well into six figures," said Lenay Snyder, who oversees advertising for CSU's student media.

One student said a friend who worked in the alumni association is having trouble garnering pledges because of CSU graduates are so upset at the paper's action.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailycamera.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: csu; fbomb; mcswane
McSwane is learning a very hard life lesson here. Yes, he and the student newspaper have the right of free speech. But whatever he publishes might just have serious consequences since readers also have the right to reject what he says and pull their money from the whole enterprise, leaving him high and dry, which is what is happening here.
1 posted on 09/27/2007 8:59:12 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

Thank God for some sanity here!


2 posted on 09/27/2007 9:02:36 AM PDT by bicyclerepair (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida)
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

Maybe they all will learn the reality that the university is NOT the real world.

I have no sympathy.


3 posted on 09/27/2007 9:05:39 AM PDT by jrestrepo
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

Freedom of speech is not the issue here. Just because you CAN do something does not mean you SHOULD. Liberals have no sense of right and wrong.


4 posted on 09/27/2007 9:06:47 AM PDT by sportutegrl
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

McSwane is learning that his BSD left him SOL, and deservedly so.


5 posted on 09/27/2007 9:07:04 AM PDT by Minnesocold (Man is not free unless government is limited. -- Ronaldus Maximus)
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

As I have said before, I would have been more impressed if his action to show free speech had offended the politically correct campus culture (like gays, minorities, etc) but he knew he couldn’t say THOSE words.

Free speech except for speech that the university does not deem acceptable.


6 posted on 09/27/2007 9:07:12 AM PDT by NeilGus
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To: Minnesocold

BSD=BDS.


7 posted on 09/27/2007 9:08:07 AM PDT by Minnesocold (Man is not free unless government is limited. -- Ronaldus Maximus)
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

How in the world is the protecting freedom of speech?

You can’t just say some things — like “fire” in a theater or “bomb” on a plane.

Since the people on this newspaper’s staff apparently don’t have any sense of decency, are we now going to have to have a law that says you can say f#@% to any seated president, regardless of who that person is?


8 posted on 09/27/2007 9:08:59 AM PDT by janereinheimer ((I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.))
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To: sportutegrl
Absolutely. With every freedom comes responsibility. This editor has the freedom to write pretty much whatever he pleases, within decency standards. He also has a responsibility to not be a complete idiot and publish profanity in an effort to make some non-existent "point". He's learning that the hard way.

Maybe this little lesson will stick with him, but it is not all that likely. Leftists have spent untold amounts of time working with the educational system in our country to remove the phrase "personal responsibility for one's actions" from the national lexicon. He has over a dozen years of hearing "it's okay if that's how you really feel" to get past.

9 posted on 09/27/2007 9:24:33 AM PDT by Jokelahoma (Animal testing is a bad idea. They get all nervous and give wrong answers.)
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

Very true. This is in reality not a freedom of speech issue, as the College is his employer. in essence, his publisher. He has violated the rules of conduct. There is no right to employment.


10 posted on 09/27/2007 9:29:31 AM PDT by Biggs of Michigan
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To: janereinheimer

“are we now going to have to have a law that says you can say f#@% to any seated president, regardless of who that person is?”

Uhhh. I don’t think we need that law. You already can.


11 posted on 09/27/2007 9:31:55 AM PDT by Kahonek
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

My bet is if he gets fired he’ll parlay the incident into a job with some alternative paper suckered by “free speech martyr” stories.


12 posted on 09/27/2007 9:41:23 AM PDT by Dumb_Ox (http://kevinjjones.blogspot.com)
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To: Minnesocold
McSwane is learning that his BDS left him SOL, and deservedly so.

I wonder if this clown would be so quick to defend my freedom of speech if I published an editorial suggesting that his mother had frequent sexual encounters with the family pet dog.

13 posted on 09/27/2007 9:44:55 AM PDT by dearolddad
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To: Minnesocold
BDS?

The editorial, which ran in Friday's edition of the paper, simply read: "Taser This . . . F--- Bush."

A whack-head gets tasered at a Kerry drone-a-thon in Florida and that is the sum and substance of an editorial at CSU?

That's not BDS.

That's F'n BDS!

14 posted on 09/27/2007 9:50:49 AM PDT by N. Theknow (Kennedys: Can't drive, can't fly, can't ski, can't skipper a boat; but they know what's best for us)
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To: N. Theknow
That's not BDS. That's F'n BDS!

BDS=BDSFUBAR

15 posted on 09/27/2007 10:30:58 AM PDT by Minnesocold (Man is not free unless government is limited. -- Ronaldus Maximus)
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