Decision to pull 'Stickman Theatre' unfortunate
Michelle Sipics
Issue date: 5/21/04 Section: Ed-Op
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Like many Drexel students, I look forward to reading a new issue of The Triangle every Friday. It is my primary source of reliable information about campus news and events, as well as an excellent collection of student opinions and entertainment. As a fellow student with the same workload of classes, assignments and exams, I appreciate the staff members who somehow find the time to provide our campus with weekly content of genuine interest to the Drexel community.
Imagine my surprise, then, to hear that one of the paper's most popular features, a comic strip that has appeared in the paper for the majority of the last four years, was pulled from last week's edition of The Triangle.
Perhaps you are familiar with Stickman Theatre, the work of digital media student Bobby Miller. I have seen Stickman strips taped to notebooks and hanging on cube walls in graduate student offices, and on publication days I frequently hear, "Have you seen the new Stickman? It's hysterical." Clearly this is a feature of The Triangle that students feel they can identify with and look forward to.
Why, then, did the paper feel that Stickman was not worthy of publication last week? The official response given was due to its use of "inappropriate language." Here I must ask: inappropriate for what? While I agree that profanity has no place on the front page or (Allen Iverson quotes notwithstanding) the sports section, we are talking about the comics section of a college newspaper. This newspaper is written and read by college students. The reality of the situation is that college students tend to use a lot of profanity, especially when they tell jokes. Whether or not this is a good thing can be left up for debate, but the fact remains that the presence of profane language does not necessarily make a bad comic strip, just as the absence of such language does not necessarily make a good newspaper.
The hopefully temporary loss of Stickman comes during a transitional and apparently controversial period for the paper. Last month, while faithfully reading The Triangle, I came across a commentary by Editor-in-Chief Chris Duffy ("The Triangle will undergo radical changes for better," The Triangle, April 9, p. 13). The headline of the piece promised radical changes to the paper, and as someone who has been at Drexel for the better part of five years and a loyal reader of the paper since day one, I was quite interested to see what he had to say.
Imagine my surprise, then, to hear that one of the paper's most popular features, a comic strip that has appeared in the paper for the majority of the last four years, was pulled from last week's edition of The Triangle.
Perhaps you are familiar with Stickman Theatre, the work of digital media student Bobby Miller. I have seen Stickman strips taped to notebooks and hanging on cube walls in graduate student offices, and on publication days I frequently hear, "Have you seen the new Stickman? It's hysterical." Clearly this is a feature of The Triangle that students feel they can identify with and look forward to.
Why, then, did the paper feel that Stickman was not worthy of publication last week? The official response given was due to its use of "inappropriate language." Here I must ask: inappropriate for what? While I agree that profanity has no place on the front page or (Allen Iverson quotes notwithstanding) the sports section, we are talking about the comics section of a college newspaper. This newspaper is written and read by college students. The reality of the situation is that college students tend to use a lot of profanity, especially when they tell jokes. Whether or not this is a good thing can be left up for debate, but the fact remains that the presence of profane language does not necessarily make a bad comic strip, just as the absence of such language does not necessarily make a good newspaper.
The hopefully temporary loss of Stickman comes during a transitional and apparently controversial period for the paper. Last month, while faithfully reading The Triangle, I came across a commentary by Editor-in-Chief Chris Duffy ("The Triangle will undergo radical changes for better," The Triangle, April 9, p. 13). The headline of the piece promised radical changes to the paper, and as someone who has been at Drexel for the better part of five years and a loyal reader of the paper since day one, I was quite interested to see what he had to say.
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