Ethics code urged for UH paper
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
The University of Hawai'i Jewish group Shaloha Hillel will file a formal complaint with the Board of Publications, which publishes Ka Leo O Hawai'i, asking for a permanent ethics code for the student newspaper after Ka Leo's Opinions Page ran a series of cartoons that Shaloha considered anti-Semitic and anti-gay.
"These canons would not limit free speech, but would be ethical parameters," said Johanna Afshani, one of the Shaloha student members drafting the complaint.
"I understand that the First Amendment trumps anything except obscenity, defamation, specific areas of speech. I don't want to limit their freedom of speech, but I believe an ethical code needs to be in place. It would be a safeguard to prevent offensive material or hurtful or hateful speech from being published."
Ka Leo editor Mary Vorsino had responded to a complaint from Shaloha Hillel in Tuesday's Ka Leo and in a letter to the organization, saying she was setting in action more stringent oversight of material to be published, along with a process of review of sensitive material.
Vorsino also said Ka Leo will sponsor a public forum to address First Amendment issues; work with UH Gender Equity Counselor Beverly McCreary to organize a second public forum in the fall; and recommend to the 2003-04 Ka Leo editor that a summer ethics workshop be organized for incoming Ka Leo staffers as well as the adoption of a procedure for printing sensitive material.
Last week the Board of Publications opened its monthly meeting to an outpouring of concerns from almost two dozen students complaining about depictions in the cartoons saying Hitler "wasn't all that bad a guy" as well as derogatory comments about homosexuals and Jews. There was also criticism of Valentine's Day stories derogatory to women.
"There were definitely some good things in Mary's letter and we appreciated some of the policies. They sounded good," said Michael Leitner, faculty adviser to Shaloha. "What's just been missing in everything, at the meeting and in the letter, is just a humanistic response like 'I'm really, truly sorry for offending so many people.' Nobody seemed to get that message."
Along with an ethics code, Afshani said the official letter will ask for a mandatory orientation seminar on ethics set up for Ka Leo staff every semester and training of staff involving the debate between First Amendment rights and sensitive issues.
"Ka Leo should be thought of as a writing experience and a way to express yourself, not an opportunity to take advantage of this privilege," said Afshani.
Lance Collins, the Ka Leo Opinions editor who approved publication of the cartoons by Casey Ishitani, said they were meant as parodies.
"In the context of the series, it's actually attacking anti-Semitism and homophobia," said Collins. "If you look at the series as a whole, it's essentially advocating against Nazism and against homophobia. It's true, by itself, it's very ambiguous and it's very questionable, and in context it's very clear. No educated person can look at the whole context and rationally argue it's anti-Semitic and anti-gay.
"Casey is, I would say, a moderate leftist. It's very clear he's pro-worker, very anti-fascist, anti-imperialist."
Collins, who has a master's degree in indigenous politics and describes himself as "a gay person of color," said: "I like to think I have some form of sensitivity to these kinds of issues.
"All of us are on the same side. We're all on the same page. However unclear the cartoonist was, he was trying to attack homophobia."
Shaloha has dropped its request that Ishitani and Collins be fired or that a half-page apology be printed.
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
