The Maryland Cow Nipple, a satirical student-run newspaper, has revised its bylaws after two cartoons in a recent issue drew condemnations from student groups.
Two provisions, which still face a group vote next month, would ban material deemed threatening or discriminatory and incorporate more educational elements into the monthly newspaper’s agenda.
The move comes after the newspaper’s top editor met with Student Government Association President Andrew Friedson last semester to discuss complaints lodged with the student government.
“The amendments are guiding the Cow Nipple to be more careful about what’s being printed and the nature of the articles or graphics being printed,” said Cow Nipple President Shawn Malhotra.
However, the new rules are short on specifics, and it remains to be seen how the relatively open-ended provisions will be interpreted by the paper’s editors.
Friedson said several groups in the Black Alliance Network, an organization representing black groups on the campus, raised concern over a cartoon titled “Turtle Power,” which showed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles dressed in Ku Klux Klan outfits.
Jewish groups contacted the SGA about a weather cartoon titled “Hail Hitler” that pictured a cloud with a Hitler mustache.
The Cow Nipple issued an apology for both cartoons after Friedson sent a letter of complaint last semester. The paper also stopped distributing the issue and pulled the cartoons from its website.
“We are deeply apologetic to the fact that we have offended people and we have learned not to pass that line in the future,” Malhotra said. “This was a form of humor and any humor taken out of context can be seen as being offensive.”
In his letter to The Cow Nipple, Friedson wrote, “I see very little difference between these depictions and the noose and swastika incidents that occurred earlier this fall,” referring to recent hate crimes on the campus.
“Just seeing those things earlier in the year threatens people,” Friedson added in an interview. “Seeing people dressed in Ku Klux Klan outfits potentially evokes the same kind of threat to people.”
Friedson said he discussed possible change to The Cow Nipple’s constitution with Editor In Chief Jon Zytnick, but Malhotra said the newspaper was not “pressured by any means” to make changes.
The SGA provides funding for the newspaper. The Cow Nipple received $6,550 for fiscal year 2008, according to Friedson’s letter.
Friedson said that Malhotra and Zytnick were “very apologetic and very interested in reconciling” and that the ultimate decision to make constitutional changes was left up to the Cow Nipple staff.
“It is never my intention to limit what a publication, a student or person writes or says or does so long as it doesn’t hurt or terrorize another student or group,” Friedson said. “If I was interested in limiting free speech, I would limit them from making fun of me.”
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