Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991 TAG: 9104040235
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG/ HIGHER EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Except this time, he looks like a body builder, he's flexing his muscles, and he's naked.
No question the photo was doctored. The staff who put together this spoof admits that, openly.
But nobody was supposed to see this April Fools' issue, a yearly tradition among the staff members at the McComas Tech paper, which was renamed "Collegiate Slime" for that edition.
"I decided it was the best interest of the CT if the copies weren't distributed," said Jim Roberts, 20, the paper's editor-in-chief. So he called the printer and asked that the 14,000 copies not be distributed.
"I called the publisher and told him to destroy the papers as soon as possible."
The copies were placed in a dumpster to be recycled, Roberts said. But a staff member from the paper went in after them and dropped them off at various places around campus late Tuesday night.
Roberts said he is not sure how many copies were distributed.
"I don't want to be specific about what I thought was wrong with the issue," he said. "I just decided that if there was any question about whether it was insensitive, we were better off not distributing it."
Lynn Nystrom, the paper's faculty adviser, said she had received a complaint about profanity in the issue before bundles were dropped off for the public. She called Roberts and asked him if he was comfortable with the spoof. He wasn't.
Nystrom said the issue poked fun at campus organizations and at women, an area in which people might have been more sensitive because it is Women's Week at Tech. Last year's spoof, which was viewed as insensitive to blacks, was printed just before Roberts became editor. His first weeks as head of the paper were filled with angry phone calls and letters.
Tuesday's Collegiate Times included a commentary by Roberts explaining why the traditional issue wasn't going to run.
"Some parts of it were humorous and, yes, some parts may have gone too far - not only to the point where it hurt individuals, but student groups at Virginia Tech as well," he wrote. "The parody would not have benefited anyone - not the staff of the CT and not the readers it serves."
Roberts' decision not to distribute the edition angered some staff members, who had put in a lot of time creating the spoof and were upset that their editor had made the decision after consulting only with next year's editor-in-chief. Two staffers quit.
One of those students is accused of distributing the Slime, and the school's judicial board may take action, Roberts said.
"What the university will do now, I'm not sure."
The CT had received no complaints on the spoof Wednesday night, but Roberts said some people apparently had thought his commentary was the real April Fool.
"That will be cleared up in our next issue."
by CNB