I used to be a member of the Campus Press staff. It was one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. What is equally as eye-opening is the controversy that now surrounds the Campus Press and the decision to run an article by Max Karson.

Every day, I am more shocked by the community response. There are certain groups of people including the student government who want to initiate changes to the Campus Press.

It is time for people to stop demanding change from the college newspaper and instead start demanding change from the University about the issues that caused the editorial. (And by that I don't mean Max Karson's constant need to be the center of attention).

But that's not really what I want to talk about. What upsets me most about this situation, and also when the Collegian (CSU's newspaper) published their obscene editorial, is the lack of integrity shown by the journalists involved.

Journalists have a tricky job. They need to try and be objective and present the facts to the public. It is up to the journalists and editors as to what gets written and what gets published. They are there to make the public take a harder look at societal issues and inform them of the news. "With great power comes great responsibility." This seems to be something that journalists are forgetting.

While it is obvious that an opinion piece will be biased, the writer still owes it to their readers and the public to make sure that it is a thoughtful and intelligent piece.

Writing F*** Bush? Not intelligent. Writing about declaring war on Asians? Not thoughtful.

What Max Karson was "trying" to do was make people think about how minorities are treated on campus. As much as the administration likes to pretend otherwise, there is an enormous lack of diversity on campus. There have been numerous incidents of racism, and that's just the events that get reported.

Writing a "satirical" piece about hating Asians could have been an interesting had it been done properly. Satire, at its best, uses wit and hyperbole to attack a belief or idea. If Karson was any good at satirical writing, the piece and its outcome may have been quite different.

Instead, with its poor writing and minute traces of satire, Karson's column outraged the community. I don't care if it was labeled as satire or not, people have a right to be mad. If the Rocky Mountain News or The Denver Post printed something like this, I would hope that someone would take them to task for it.

But that is the point. Neither of these newspapers would print something like this because they know better.

Hopefully, the Campus Press staff will take this as an opportunity to learn about journalistic responsibility (which, by the way, is not something they are going to learn at mandatory diversity training). This is still college. We still have the opportunity to mess us and learn from our mistakes. Hopefully, the managing editors will enact a new system that will use discretion about what they publish.

The credibility of the Campus Press is shot if they don't carefully and thoughtfully consider each article that is published, which was obviously lacking in this case. With one article, years of hard work establishing the reputation of the paper is gone.

Yes, journalists have the right to freedom of speech. This is valuable and it is important that it be protected. However, as a journalist it is important to acknowledge this freedom and think carefully about the power that words have.

Last semester, it was proposed that Karson join our newspaper staff as a paid columnist. Our advisor wanted to consult with the editorial staff before hiring him, because it was our paper, and our choice.

Personally, I was concerned about bringing Karson on because of his reputation. He is known around the campus for his "satirical" writings in his own newsletter. Several of the editors did not want our newspaper associated with his sensationalistic writing. I was concerned about the fact that he was just going to be a columnist. How was it fair that someone with no background in journalism was going to be able to walk in and get his own column?

I have read Karson's newsletter, The Yeti, and attended a reading of it during the controversy a while back. I don't personally know him, but from what I've read, I don't like him. My dislike is not from He says that he wants to get people thinking about controversial topics like rape and race, but from his writing, this doesn't really seem to be his main agenda.

It seems to me like he is more interested in getting publicity for himself than he is interested in social issues.

It's unfortunate that the Campus Press aided him in his cause- celebrity for himself.

Did Karson have a right to publish his opinion? Yes. If the press is held back in any way by the University or the student government, then it is compromised and pointless.

Should the Campus Press have published the opinion? The answer to that is a resounding NO. It is admirable to want to stir up conversation over controversial issues, but as journalists, it is our job to do it in an intelligent manner. Instead of talking about racial issues, we are talking about freedom of the press and calling for Karson and the editor-in-chiefs heads on a platter.

So thank you, Campus Press and Max Karson for firing up a discussion. Too bad it's not the right one.