ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 15, 1996 TAG: 9605150072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above
STUDENT EDITORS have mailed an apology to a college official after an unfortunate change of title.
A Virginia Tech official failed to see any humor when a student newspaper erroneously listed her job title last month as "Director of Butt Licking."
Sharon Yeagle was so unamused she filed an $850,000 defamation lawsuit in Montgomery County Circuit Court on Monday against the Collegiate Times .
Yeagle, assistant to the vice president for student affairs, would not comment about the lawsuit Monday. But in the filing she contends the phrase damaged her reputation and caused her shame, humiliation, embarrassment and financial loss.
Collegiate Times editors say the phrase was part of a computer-system template never meant to be published. They have mailed her an apology and want to publish a correction, but don't print another issue until July.
Yeagle's Roanoke lawyer, S.D. Roberts Moore, said the phrase was printed with malicious intent and he is relatively certain it will mean financial loss for Yeagle. The suit asks for $500,000 in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages.
But one Tech professor who teaches communications law called the lawsuit frivolous.
"It's ridiculous," said professor Wat Hopkins. "I think you have someone who got her feelings hurt and she is trying to get even."
The lawsuit contends that the phrase charges Yeagle with "the commission of a crime involving moral turpitude and therefore constitutes defamation." Or, as Moore explained: "Butt licking is sodomy, and that is a crime."
The matter started with an April 30 article about the record number of students chosen to participate in the Virginia Governor's Fellows Program. The Collegiate Times publishes 14,000 copies twice weekly and reaches more than 30,000 readers, the lawsuit stated.
A quote from the April story was enlarged and printed in the middle of the story's text in bold print. The quote was attributed to Yeagle, whose name was spelled correctly, but with the erroneous title.
Katy Sinclair, Collegiate Times editor in chief, said on Monday that the newspaper never meant to print the title. She was not aware a lawsuit was even being considered.
"It was not an intent to harm [her]. We never intended it to get out," Sinclair said. "It got by me and usually those things don't. I take this very seriously."
The title is one of many dummy phrases kept in the newspaper's computer system to remind editors to type in the correct wording, Sinclair said. They were created three to four years ago.
This is the second time the phrase has made it into print, she said. The first time, before Sinclair became editor, an accurate quote was printed in the Oct. 27 issue, but a false name and the false title ran beneath the quote. In that case, the staff apologized to John M. White, an associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Contacted Tuesday, White barely remembered the incident. "It was like a joke but I didn't pay any attention to it," White said. "I got teased about it a little bit, a couple of e-mail messages."
Sinclair said a letter of apology was sent to Yeagle the day after the publication, but a correction cannot be printed until July 2 because the issue with the error was the final one before summer break. Yeagle refused any calls from a Collegiate Times reporter and news editor, Sinclair said.
Sinclair said she has since changed the computer template and if the error happens again question marks will appear.
Lynn Nystrom, the paper's faculty adviser since 1978, said this is the first time a libel lawsuit has been filed against the newspaper.
"Ninety-nine percent of the time I am very pleased with the decisions they (staff members) make," Nystrom said.
The paper is independent and self-sufficient from the university, Nystrom said. As adviser, Nystrom offers opinions to the staff, but it makes the final decisions. She never reads stories until they are published, she said.
Tim Reed, assistant director of student activities and chairman of the Media Board, said the newspaper has $1 million in libel insurance. The Media Board is the general governing body for the media organizations on campus, such as the Collegiate Times and the yearbook. In a situation like this, Reed said, a lawyer will be provided through the insurance company.
LENGTH: Medium: 82 linesby CNB