NEW JERSEY — The student newspaper staff at William Paterson Universitymay be facing a difficult fall semester if university President ArnoldSpeert sticks to a promise he made last spring.
Speert said he would no longer recognize The Beacon as the campusnewspaper after being offended by the paper’s annual satire edition, TheBacon, which was published in May.
In a memo sent to the university community, Speert said he was “appalledand offended by the insensitivity and poor judgment” of the newspaper staffin publishing material that he called racist, sexist, homophobic, antisemeticand “antithetical to the values that are at the heart of this University.”
Speert also said his administration would no longer advertise with thepaper or grant interviews to its reporters.
He further threatened to make The Beacon’s other advertisers awareof the school’s condemnation of the paper and to discourage them from advertisingwith the publication in the future.