From the Chancellor's Office

This was posted on NBC 30 this afternoon, after the protest:

Office of the Chancellor

September 17, 2007


To the CSUS Community:
The Connecticut State University System Board of Trustees and the CSUS Chancellor are appalled by the stunning lack of sensitivity and awareness displayed by Mark Rowan, editor of the Central Connecticut State University student newspaper, and apparently by others on the newspaper’s editorial staff.
We share the understandable outrage expressed by students, faculty and staff at Central, but recognize that the First Amendment to this nation’s Constitution provides broad protections for free speech. It also limits the remedies available to a University seeking to reintroduce repulsive and renegade publications to the concepts of mutual respect and good judgment.
We concur with Central President Jack Miller’s plan to act promptly on the recommendations of the University’s Task Force on Journalistic Integrity and support students who are rightfully insisting on responsible journalism from their student newspaper. This is not what one should expect from a student newspaper - editorial content, opinion articles and cartoons that cross the line of human decency.
It is shameful that the insensitive and hurtful actions of a mere handful of students can misrepresent the character of an entire University community. It is astonishing that the editors seemingly refuse to absorb that simply because something can be printed does not mean that it should be printed. It is incomprehensible that such offensive material would be knowingly included in the student newspaper and imposed on the CCSU community, regardless of whether or not the writer is a University student.
Actions of this type are abhorrent, and there must be a way to reach students so that they fully comprehend that such behavior is entirely inappropriate and not in their own best interest if they are to become constructive contributors to society. We reiterate our commitment to the importance of personal ethics, personal conduct and personal responsibility, and strongly encourage the University and its students to pursue every avenue to reassert those fundamental guiding principles.

Lawrence D. McHugh David G. Carter, Sr.
Chairman, Board of Trustees Chancellor
Connecticut State University System Connecticut State University System



Here's a question: what about the charges of HOSTILE WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT?