Spring Break
April Fool's issue sparks controversy
Marshall Fleming
Issue date: 4/6/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Students at St. Joseph's University student newspaper The Hawk are in the hot seat after articles published in the April Fool's Day issue offended administration and students.
Fake articles in The Squawk, the annual satire issue of the paper, included a report that Cardinal Justin Rigali was gay, and of a murder of the "lone women's basketball fan."
A fake advertisement of the school's president Rev. Timothy Lannon endorsing a condom and an editorial comparing Jesuits to Nazis also appeared.
"Most of the university community really found it very offensive, very disrespectful," school spokeswoman Harriet Goodheart said Wednesday. "They did cross the line of what was appropriate even in a so-called humor issue," according to 6 ABC's Actions News.
Wednesday the paper featured an apology from Editor-in-Chief David Spain.
"Although I was not directly involved in the writing or compiling of The Squawk, I take full responsibility for it. As editor-in-chief of The Hawk, it was my duty to oversee The Squawk's production and approve its content. I personally examined each page, article, and ad of The Squawk, and despite some of my own reservations, allowed questionably inappropriate material to be printed. For that I am deeply sorry."
The contributing writers also printed a joint apology, in which they apologized for "any hurt, embarrassment or offended."
Student and faculty responses varied across the campus.
"Usually it's hilarious, but when I opened it up this year, I thought to myself, 'This is the worst idea I heard,'" student Catharine Best told NBC10.
English professor Tom Brennan however, felt differently.
"I laughed my head off at it," Brennan wrote. "Of course, I imagine that some did not..."
Copies of the paper, which has a circulation of 3,500, had been removed from the admissions building, but not all copies could be accounted for.
Rigali has already received an apology from Lannon and Spain is expected to do the same.
Fake articles in The Squawk, the annual satire issue of the paper, included a report that Cardinal Justin Rigali was gay, and of a murder of the "lone women's basketball fan."
A fake advertisement of the school's president Rev. Timothy Lannon endorsing a condom and an editorial comparing Jesuits to Nazis also appeared.
"Most of the university community really found it very offensive, very disrespectful," school spokeswoman Harriet Goodheart said Wednesday. "They did cross the line of what was appropriate even in a so-called humor issue," according to 6 ABC's Actions News.
Wednesday the paper featured an apology from Editor-in-Chief David Spain.
"Although I was not directly involved in the writing or compiling of The Squawk, I take full responsibility for it. As editor-in-chief of The Hawk, it was my duty to oversee The Squawk's production and approve its content. I personally examined each page, article, and ad of The Squawk, and despite some of my own reservations, allowed questionably inappropriate material to be printed. For that I am deeply sorry."
The contributing writers also printed a joint apology, in which they apologized for "any hurt, embarrassment or offended."
Student and faculty responses varied across the campus.
"Usually it's hilarious, but when I opened it up this year, I thought to myself, 'This is the worst idea I heard,'" student Catharine Best told NBC10.
English professor Tom Brennan however, felt differently.
"I laughed my head off at it," Brennan wrote. "Of course, I imagine that some did not..."
Copies of the paper, which has a circulation of 3,500, had been removed from the admissions building, but not all copies could be accounted for.
Rigali has already received an apology from Lannon and Spain is expected to do the same.
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