The Eagle, American University’s student newspaper, found themselves in a bit of hot water for a column written by a student late last month.

According to Alex Knepper’s opinion column, “any woman who heads to an EI party as an anonymous onlooker, drinks five cups of the jungle juice, and walks back to a boy’s room with him is indicating that she wants sex, OK? To cry ‘date rape’ after you sober up the next morning and regret the incident is the equivalent of pulling a gun to someone’s head and then later claiming that you didn’t ever actually intend to pull the trigger.”

Knepper gained a lot of attention on campus and from national media outlets for his views. However, The Eagle came under fire for their decision to run the article. The discussion about The Eagle’s decision resulted in a great learning opportunity for the student journalists at American University.

The paper’s staff published an editorial on March 31. The editorial said the editors “focused on whether or not this newspaper should censor Knepper’s opinions because they were controversial.” Ultimately, they decided that they should not censor a person’s opinions “based solely on the controversy they would cause.”

I am not going to say whether the editors were right or wrong to print the column. What I will say is that what an editor chooses to put in their product reflects on them. Can they walk away from their broadcast, paper, or magazine and be happy with what they put out for the world to consume? Also, it is common knowledge that people need to be exposed to a variety of views and opinions; however, that does not mean an editor should put in every editorial or column they are handed. Editors need to know where the line is, and what crosses it.

The Eagle’s staff editorial was sincere, and I feel that the paper’s decision to run Knepper’s column was in no way malicious.

Above all, this incident shows what a college media outlet is all about – preparing student journalists for the situations they will face in a professional setting. While the staff may have wished this incident never happened, I bet they will always stop and think before putting content into their product.
____________________________________________________________
Andrew M. Seaman is a senior communication studies student at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He is one of SPJ’s student representatives on the national board and you can follow him on Twitter @aseaman06.

Good morning all!

We are getting set for our second day at the College Media Advisers spring convention in New York City.

Yesterday was a blast! We met so many people, including the adviser of SPJ’s chapter from The American University of Iraq! They seem like such an amazing chapter.

A lot of other people stopped by our table, too. Our conversations gave us a chance to tell people about the great opportunities available through SPJ, and it help remind everyone that SPJ is out there listening to its members.

Today is another day filled with talking to convention attendees, sharing experiences, and having fun! SPJ will be hosting an Ethics Hold’em tournament at 7 p.m. and the winner will receive a free one-year student membership to SPJ.

Stay tuned for updates!

Greeting SPJ campus members!

Please accept my sincerest apologies for slacking on the blog this past week. A mixture of school work, newspaper work, freelance work, and dental work led to zero downtime this past week.

However, never fear! I am back with an extra long list of items that will keep you busy for days to come!

So, let’s get started.

• The new issue of the Quill is out and it is AWESOME! You may want to check out the article on how to capture HD video with your SLR camera by Jeff Achen. 
• Quill’s Managing Editor Scott Leadingham has a great post on how to keep up with SPJ chapters across America using Twitter! Scott also links to a post by Monica Guzman, a SPJ member and Seatlepi.com reporter, on how to keep up with other tweeple using the same method. 
• Join Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and reporter Tom Hallman, Jr. for his Narrative Writing Workshops in DC or Santa Clara, Calif. in April and May! 
• Looking for something directed specifically to young journos? Try SPJ’s Reporters Instituteat The Poynter Institute in Florida! Applications are due March 1. 
• Want my job? As a national board member, I mean. Find out how here. 
• I had an amazing experience as an intern for The Working Press in Indianapolis during the national convention last year, and now you can have the same experience in VEGAS! Find out how to apply here. I cannot say enough about my experience with The Working Press. I made great friends and gained great pages for my portfolio. 
• The Nieman Foundation at Harvard University asks the question: What is journalism school for? Read the post here. 
• The Public Relations Society of America has, what I consider, a really cool post about the AP Stylebook. 
• Jason Fry, from the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, has a great post about how writing for the web is different, and how it isn’t. 
• Emily Sweeney, or Spikey Em- SPJ member, reporter at The Boston Globe, and a fellow 2009 Ted Scripps Leadership Institute Graduate – has a great post on SPJ’s Net Worked blog about how to edit a video in Windows Movie Maker in 7 easy steps! 
• Spikey Em also has a post on seven cool social media tools for journalists. 
• Andy Schotz, president of DC’s Pro Chapter and chair of SPJ’s Ethics Committee, has a post on SPJ’s Code Words blog about some new ‘boundaries’ for social media. 
• The Student Press Law Center reports that a proposed amendment to Maryland’s shield law includes… Are you ready for this? COLLEGE JOURNALISTS! Read SPLC’s report here. 
• Martin Moore, director of the Media Standards Trust and a 2008 Knight News Challenge winner, has an interesting postabout the universal principles that guide journalism. The post is housed at the PBS MediaShift Idea Lab.

Also, I want to start providing links to some of our campus chapters. Let’s start with our chapter at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Check out their great Web site here.

Let’s take a look at a very amusing video posted to their website. The description on YouTube is, “A group project performed for an ethics course at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. The assignment was to come up with a journalist’s oath.”

Maybe we can ask for an encore at the Region 1 conference. Have a great weekend!
____________________________________________________________
Andrew M. Seamanis a senior communication studies student at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He is one of SPJ’s student representatives on the national board and you can follow him on Twitter @aseaman06.

The Observer, the independent newspaper of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s, accepted the resignation of Assistant Managing Editor Kara King, who took responsibility for the publication of an anti-gay cartoon in last Tuesday’s edition of the paper.

“A miscommunication between another editor and myself led to the comic running without me first reading and approving the material,” said King in a letter dated today. “Regardless, no excuse can justify the comic even being considered for publication, and the duty to censor it fell to me. I failed to do so, and am solely responsible for providing a forum for this message of hate.”

We first told you about the cartoon on Friday.