CSU board lets student editor in profanity case keep his job

Erika Gonzalez, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 5, 2007 at midnight

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FORT COLLINS - J. David McSwane, the editor who caused an uproar for allowing the F-word to run in Colorado State University's student newspaper, will keep his job, a student-run governing board ruled Thursday night.

Instead of dismissing McSwane from his duties as editor-in-chief of the Rocky Mountain Collegian, CSU's Board of Student Communications decided to admonish him for publishing a profane editorial referencing President Bush.

The punishment was one of the least severe the board could impose. The only lesser penalty was to dismiss the allegations against McSwane.

The decision came after a four-hour, closed-door hearing of the board, which includes three faculty members and six students. CSU College Republicans and others had called for McSwane's firing for publishing the Sept. 21 editorial, which simply read: "Taser this? F---Bush, with the expletive spelled out. The editorial was written in response to an incident at the University of Florida, where a student was shocked with a Taser during a forum featuring U.S. Sen. John Kerry.

The board ruled that by publishing the editorial, McSwane had violated standards it and the Collegian has set, which state that: "Profane and vulgar words are not acceptable for opinion writing."

Although the board said it considered the opinion expressed in the editorial protected by the First Amendment, it also acknowledged the impact the piece has had.

In a letter to McSwane announcing its decision, the board wrote: "The editorial has caused harm to the Collegian, Student Media and the university community. It is our judgment that your decision was unethical and unprofessional."

McSwane, who cancelled a post-hearing news conference, would not comment on the decision. He has 20 days to appeal the ruling.

While the editorial was credited to the entire Collegian editorial board, McSwane was held responsible because of his position with the paper. He has said that he approved the piece after hours of debate.

"We did not do this to capture headlines," McSwane said last week. "We did this to spark a discussion about free speech".

But the editorial ignited a firestorm of publicity, garnering attention from national news outlets and conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh. The board of student communications received about 300 e-mails and about a dozen letters complaining about the editorial.

Businesses also pulled their advertising in protest — an action that could end up costing the Collegian and other student-run publications $50,000. Collegian staffers have taken a 10 percent pay cut as a result of the fallout and the director of CSU's student media said he is looking at further cost-cutting measures.

The board could have opted to fire, suspend or reprimand McSwane for the editorial.

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