A&M's paper makes
apology
Cougar News Services
The Battalion, the student newspaper of
Texas A&M University, was forced to apologize in Monday's editions
of its publication for publishing a
cartoon many found to be insensitive.
The paper and its staff have been under
fire since Jan. 14 when the cartoon, which depicted a black mother admonishing
her child for failing a
class, ran. The two were drawn with features
common in racist propaganda.
The apology ran in The Battalion's opinion
page and stated the paper "has a responsibility to hold the public's trust.
When that trust is broken, as
has happened over a cartoon called racist,
an apology is in order to rebuild that trust."
The apology also stated the newspaper would
not run the cartoon if it had it to do over again. A planned protest was
canceled after the apology
ran.
A&M President Ray Bowen applauded the
paper's apology, saying he was proud of its editors' decision and that
it was the right thing to do.
This came after Bowen's letter criticizing
the fact that the cartoon was published.
The artist, Chad Mallam, goes by the pen
name "The Uncartoonist" and has been criticized before.
Previous editorial cartoons have offended
other racial, ethnic and religious groups. A former editor asked Mallam
to apologize for a cartoon that
offended the Jewish community.
First semester Battalion editor in chief
Mariano Castillo was second-guessed not just by the A&M community but
by several college newspapers
as well.
The outcry had become as much about sensitivity
as it was about free speech and the paper's right to publish the cartoon.
Castillo was unavailable for comment at
press time.
