BU student newspaper’s April Fools’ edition angers students
Editors apologize for rape-themed satire
Boston University’s independent student newspaper came under intense criticism Monday for an April Fools’ edition that made light of rape, just a few months after highly publicized sexual assault cases roiled the campus.
The top story: ‘‘Seven frat dwarves were arrested last night after they allegedly drugged’’ and sexually assaulted a female Boston University student, identified as the ‘‘fairest of them all.’’ It included a picture of a cocktail that Snow White had been drinking, which had been spiked with a date-rape drug.
Another front-page story in The Daily Free Press special edition involved Alice in Wonderland on a bad trip after taking LSD supplied by fraternity brothers. Still another implicated Cinderella in a prostitution ring.
Students found the jokes anything but funny.
Sexual assault has become a charged topic at the university after the arrests of two BU ice hockey players in the past several months, as well as three Peeping Tom incidents in dorms and a possible episode of sorority hazing in March that sent a woman to the hospital.
Student activists on campus have questioned whether the school’s student culture is hostile toward women.
‘‘Obviously, rape jokes are always in poor taste, but considering everything that’s come to light this year, it’s unbelievable that anybody thought that was a good idea,’’ said Allison Francis, a 2011 alumna who has publicly criticized the school’s culture. On the other hand, she added, ‘‘the fact that there’s so much outrage over this is actually really heartening to me.’’
Early Tuesday morning, a letter was posted on The Daily Free Press website signed by Annie Ropeik, chairwoman of the board of directors for Back Bay Publishing Co. Inc., saying the board asked for the resignation of Chelsea Diana as editor-in-chief of the Free Press and as president of the board, ‘‘and she has accepted.’’ Back Bay Publishing is the governing organization for the paper.
“The Free Press has worked tirelessly for nearly 42 years to be an outlet for fair, intelligent student journalism,’’ Ropeik said in the letter. “It is our aim as an independent, nonprofit organization to be a voice for the student body, and Monday’s issue was a black mark on our reputation as such.’’
According to the letter, Steph Solis, who was selected to be editor-in-chief for the upcoming fall semester, will take over immediately.
Alluding to the recent sexual assault investigations surrounding two of the university’s hockey players, the board said “much of the content of Monday’s issue was incredibly harmful, tasteless and out of line.’’
“We have long taken pride in our aggressive and thoughtful treatment of these topics; while the integrity of that coverage is certainly compromised, we hope that together we can move forward and return to the high standards we most often seek to uphold.’’
Though the ‘‘joke’’ stories appeared only in print, they quickly circulated on the web as dozens of students and alumni, including several former editors of the newspaper, took to Twitter and Facebook to vent their anger.
‘‘Beyond embarrassed and ashamed to be a BU alumni today,’’ wrote one.
‘‘So embarrassing you’d choose the day that we begin recruiting admitted students to come here. Making that job a lot harder,’’ read another tweet.
On Facebook, another student noted that the newspaper had just finished covering a Take Back the Night rally against sexual violence.
‘‘I don’t know how reporters can go from writing and tweeting about TBTN to making light of sexual assault,’’ she wrote. ‘‘In no context was this article even remotely appropriate.’’
The editors of the newspaper sought to address the situation on Twitter, saying: ‘‘We want to apologize for our ill-thought-out April Fools’ issue and are so sorry for offending our readers.’’
Diana tweeted that she was sorry for ‘‘my horrible and incredibly offensive attempt at satirical humor.’’ The newspaper further addressed the issue with a statement posted on its website late Monday, saying its ‘‘aim was to publish satirical material about Boston University as a whole, and we did not intend to perpetuate harmful stereotypes or inappropriately make light of serious issues. … We aim to learn from our mistakes and to move forward.’’
But that did not satisfy some students, who called for Diana and other newspaper staff to resign.
Kenn Elmore, dean of students at BU, said his office was waiting to review the apology before deciding whether any action should be taken.
‘‘They’re an independent organization,’’ he said. ‘‘We don’t control their content, so we’re not involved in that at all. I’m going to take a look at [their apology]; that’s what I’m going to do.’’
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