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The student editor of Towson University's independent newspaper The Towerlight has stepped down after a standoff with President Robert L. Caret over the publication of an explicit sex column.
Editor Carrie Wood, a junior from Reisterstown, resigned Friday after exchanging e-mails with Caret over a column called "The Bed Post."
The newspaper's editors have since discontinued the column because it was published under a pseudonym and the author wished to remain anonymous. But they have said they might continue to publish it online.
In a Sept. 24 letter to the editor, Caret wrote, "This is not about first amendment rights or freedom of the press. It's about misjudgment of the range and disposition of your audience and its expectations about what they will find in The Towerlight and what they might be appalled at seeing there."
He subsequently exchanged e-mails with Wood. Caret did not order students to stop publishing the column but hinted that he might pull university support in the form of advertising.
In her resignation column, Wood said Caret's Sept. 30 e-mail to her "was written in an intimidating, patronizing and bullying tone."
But Wood went on to criticize her handling of the exchange. "I understand that my e-mail was just one of several poor decisions made by me regarding 'The Bed Post,' " she wrote. "Hindsight is 20-20, and if I ever had the chance to do this all over again, I would never have run the column."
In an interview Tuesday, Wood said she resigned in part because she had lost the faith of her staff. She said she hopes her resignation will ease tensions between the university's administration and the newspaper's editorial board. She will continue working for the paper as a reporter.
The Towerlight's editors said they should never have broken tradition by running the column under a pseudonym. "We do not apologize for the sexual content of the column," they wrote. "We wish it had been written less provocatively, and we realize that many readers were offended."The newspaper published "The Bed Post" column throughout September under the pseudonym Lux. It contained plain-spoken advice on sex techniques and other racy topics.
Caret said Tuesday that he told the editors he would do everything in his power to disassociate the university from the column if it continued appearing. He said he would have considered pulling university advertising, which accounts for about 40 percent of the newspaper's advertising revenue.
"I wouldn't do that to retaliate," he said. "I would do it because it's a good business decision. I'm not going to advertise in Playboy or Hustler, either."
The newspaper leases office space from the university. But student editors determine the newspaper's content, and a board of alumni, professors and students manages its finances. Neither group is an official organ of the university, so Caret would have no direct power to stop the newspaper from publishing.
The standoff was not the first between the president and student editors over a sex column. In 2005, Caret expressed concerns about a column called "Between the Sheets." Though the paper continued printing that column, it toned down the author's language, said then-editor Brian Stelter, who went on to write for The New York Times. The episode helped convince the newspaper's leaders that they needed to make The Towerlight fully independent, a process that was completed last year.
As a member of the board that oversees the newspaper's finances, Stelter said he watched the latest standoff with concern and called Caret to offer his views. "The newspaper is edited by the students, and that's the way it should be," he said. "There's no better way for them to learn."
Editor Carrie Wood, a junior from Reisterstown, resigned Friday after exchanging e-mails with Caret over a column called "The Bed Post."
The newspaper's editors have since discontinued the column because it was published under a pseudonym and the author wished to remain anonymous. But they have said they might continue to publish it online.
In a Sept. 24 letter to the editor, Caret wrote, "This is not about first amendment rights or freedom of the press. It's about misjudgment of the range and disposition of your audience and its expectations about what they will find in The Towerlight and what they might be appalled at seeing there."
He subsequently exchanged e-mails with Wood. Caret did not order students to stop publishing the column but hinted that he might pull university support in the form of advertising.
In her resignation column, Wood said Caret's Sept. 30 e-mail to her "was written in an intimidating, patronizing and bullying tone."
But Wood went on to criticize her handling of the exchange. "I understand that my e-mail was just one of several poor decisions made by me regarding 'The Bed Post,' " she wrote. "Hindsight is 20-20, and if I ever had the chance to do this all over again, I would never have run the column."
In an interview Tuesday, Wood said she resigned in part because she had lost the faith of her staff. She said she hopes her resignation will ease tensions between the university's administration and the newspaper's editorial board. She will continue working for the paper as a reporter.
The Towerlight's editors said they should never have broken tradition by running the column under a pseudonym. "We do not apologize for the sexual content of the column," they wrote. "We wish it had been written less provocatively, and we realize that many readers were offended."The newspaper published "The Bed Post" column throughout September under the pseudonym Lux. It contained plain-spoken advice on sex techniques and other racy topics.
Caret said Tuesday that he told the editors he would do everything in his power to disassociate the university from the column if it continued appearing. He said he would have considered pulling university advertising, which accounts for about 40 percent of the newspaper's advertising revenue.
"I wouldn't do that to retaliate," he said. "I would do it because it's a good business decision. I'm not going to advertise in Playboy or Hustler, either."
The newspaper leases office space from the university. But student editors determine the newspaper's content, and a board of alumni, professors and students manages its finances. Neither group is an official organ of the university, so Caret would have no direct power to stop the newspaper from publishing.
The standoff was not the first between the president and student editors over a sex column. In 2005, Caret expressed concerns about a column called "Between the Sheets." Though the paper continued printing that column, it toned down the author's language, said then-editor Brian Stelter, who went on to write for The New York Times. The episode helped convince the newspaper's leaders that they needed to make The Towerlight fully independent, a process that was completed last year.
As a member of the board that oversees the newspaper's finances, Stelter said he watched the latest standoff with concern and called Caret to offer his views. "The newspaper is edited by the students, and that's the way it should be," he said. "There's no better way for them to learn."
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So mom meowhoot (10/08/2009, 9:21 AM ) - you would rahter have a college newspaper teach your children about sex? Did you forget that this area of life is YOUR responsiblity, not a college newspaper? Sounds like a case parental neglect here.
cncoriolesfan (10/08/2009, 10:08 AM )