The day our student paper got pulled for a pro-Palestine cartoon

Last Tuesday, the editor-in-chief at our campus paper got an email from the dean's office saying the whole print run had to be pulled. The reason was a single political cartoon criticizing the university's investment ties. They called it 'disruptive' and a 'safety concern'... but it was just a drawing. It felt like they were punishing a viewpoint, not protecting anyone. Has your school ever shut down a paper like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

barbara_taylor832d ago

@wesley83 makes a good point about real risks, but sometimes you can find a middle ground. At my school we got the paper pulled for an op-ed about the same topic, so we worked with the dean to add a mandatory disclaimer and a faculty advisor review before printing. It kept the paper alive and nobody got hurt, which felt like a win for everyone honestly.

wesley8325d agoMost Upvoted

The dean probably saw a real risk of campus violence over that cartoon.

terry_bailey3525d ago

Yeah, the part about "real risk of campus violence" hits different now. I used to think free speech meant letting everything run no matter what. But last year at my old school, a similar thing happened with a flyer and it escalated so fast. There were fights in the quad, windows got broken. It wasn't worth it. The dean's job is to keep people safe, not just be right about a principle. So I get it now.