Universities Weblog

J. David McSwane, a junior at Colorado State University and the student-editor of the Rocky Mountain Collegian, decided to give CSU students a lesson in free speech. So he published the "F" word in a (very) short editorial on September 24 in headline-sized type. McSwane told the Associated Press that the newspaper's governing body might fire him, but that he had no plans to step aside voluntarily.

McSwane's editorial was a short four words: "Taser this … **** Bush." His obscenity has been replaced here by asterisks. There was no attempt to explain the remarks and no reference in that issue of the Collegian to the recent use of a Taser to subdue a student at Florida State University.

McSwane has since stated that the editorial was published because he felt CSU students were apathetic about their right to free speech; and that in light of the use of a Taser gun on a student at Florida State earlier this month, free speech seemed like an important issue.

The Blogosphere has been sprinkled with reaction to the incident:

• From Pepperdine University - "It was recklessly displayed with no accompanying story, no explanation of the editorial board's intentions and no rationale for the gratuitous display of profanity… While the intentions seem noble, their execution turned out a distasteful attempt at a bold statement. Although unrelated to their purpose, the statement was confusingly coupled with an attack on the president- a seemingly sordid attempt at killing two birds with one stone."
• From George Archibald - "Lazy, nasty, stupid kids getting their rocks off by feeding the anti-Bush frenzy among faculty and liberal weirdos they are sucking up to."
• From Colorado Confidential, with a headline that proclaims that shock value doesn't work - "McSwane, editor of Colorado State University's Rocky Mountain Collegian, got everyone's attention….the attention turned out to be counterproductive."
• From JewelDV, a student in Boston - "It's not exactly a secret that Bush isn't well liked by the majority of citizens these days and if the Collegian editorial board wants to write something like that to express themselves, they should be able to."
• From Blogger Chris Allen, a teacher in South Carolina - "Simply put, McSwane has the right to say F**k you to anyone he wishes, but the board has the right to say, Not in our paper, and the advertisers have the right to say, Not with our money.

During my 15 months or so as Editor-in-Chief of the Augusta State University Bell Ringer, I suspect I did a few stupid things. I don't remember it all that well; jimmy carter was president and my hair wasn't gray yet. I think George Archibald is a little harsh and I guess I largely agree with Chris, above.

I'm not sure I think any of our rights are absolute because our actions impinge on the lives of others. My rights stop when their free exercise begins to interfere with the rights of others. Having lived on four continents and in 14 times zones I can tell you that we have more freedom of speech in America than in the vast majority of places on Earth. If McSwane wants to speak for himself instead of for the paper, let him start himself a blog…

Evidently the bylaws of the Collegian state pretty explicitly that McSwane can't be fired to a single incident of vulgarity. But the paper is funded entirely by advertising and, since the publication of the editorial, has lost about $50,000 in revenue as a result of the incident, according to a blog called the Fire that focuses on civil rights in higher education. We'll see, I guess, since hearings on the matter are underway.

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