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Cartoon in UF paper sparks a firestorm

Dozens of black students, along with a UF dean, have marched on the paper's offices, and the editor has received a death threat.

By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published September 24, 2005

GAINESVILLE - Mike Gimignani knew he was taking a chance two weeks ago when he published a racially charged cartoon in the University of Florida's student newspaper.

But the 21-year-old editor, who is white, didn't know how much of a chance until last weekend, when someone called his cell phone and threatened to kill him.

The threat was one link in a chain of events that began Sept. 13, when the Independent Florida Alligator printed a cartoon involving black rapper Kanye West and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

West, who said at a recent fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina victims that President Bush doesn't care about black people, is standing next to Rice holding a playing card labeled "The Race Card." Rice has a bubble over her head containing the words: "N---a please!"

The cartoon unleashed a firestorm on campus. Dozens of black students, along with a UF dean, marched on the Alligator offices. The student body president condemned the paper and immediately pulled about $10,000 worth of advertisements. A group of black student journalists began making plans to produce an alternative publication.

"I didn't expect it, but I'm always prepared, especially when it comes to Andy Marlette," said Gimignani, referring to the 26-year-old white Alligator staffer who drew the cartoon. "We certainly did not mean harm. We were trying to make a point."

The controversy illustrates the volatility that has long surrounded issues of race at Florida's flagship university. The school, where African-Americans make up just 7.4 percent of the student population, recently reported a decline in black freshman enrollment for the second year in a row.

UF officials say they worry that the cartoon could hurt efforts to recruit and retain minority students. They have demanded an apology from the newspaper. Alligator editors have refused, calling administrators hypocrites.

If they truly are concerned about not offending black students, the editors ask, why is UF allowing West - who frequently uses the "N-word" in his shows - to perform on campus next month?

Patricia Telles-Irvin, UF's vice president of student affairs, said the editors are just trying to divert attention from the real issue.

"I hold the media to a higher standard than an artist," she said.

There is no doubt the cartoon bruised feelings.

"Perhaps you cannot understand the concept of institutionalized racism in the United States," Angelique Nixon, president of the Black Graduate Student Organization, wrote in a letter to the Alligator. "Perhaps you don't have to because you are in a position of privilege at a predominantly white university."

Denise Jean-Louis, president of the Black Student Union, said she already is the only black student in most of her classes.

"This made me feel even more segregated," she said in an interview. "It really, really hurt me."

But some wonder whether the cartoon would have provoked as much angst if it had been drawn by a black student, or if it had appeared in a black publication.

The Alligator has 15 reporters, though that doesn't include stringers and correspondents. One of them is African-American. The paper also has a photographer who is black.

Andy Marlette, the cartoonist, said he was just trying to be thought-provoking.

"That's the thing with cartoons," said the nephew of Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Doug Marlette. "You never know how people will react to them."

This is not the first time the Alligator has become the source of controversy. The independent publication, often hailed as one of the best student newspapers in the nation, has been a thorn in UF's side for much of its history.

In 1971, the university threw it off campus after staffers stuffed an edition with a mimeographed list of abortion referral agencies. Several of its reporters were arrested in a long-running dispute over Florida's Sunshine Law, a fight the newspaper eventually won. Its alumni now hold prominent positions at newspapers across Florida and much of the nation.

The Alligator editors of today suspect UF's student government, a traditional target of the newspaper's coverage, are using the cartoon as an opportunity to exact revenge.

Student body president Joe Goldberg, who has ordered student government advertising pulled from the Alligator, said that is not the case. He said hundreds of students have expressed their dismay at what they consider a racially insensitive piece.

"I know everybody reads the Alligator," said Goldberg, who is white. "But I don't think it's appropriate to advertise in a publication that's offensive to a majority of students on this campus."

Just how many students have been offended is difficult to determine. Representatives from several black student organizations have complained to administrators. There have been two protests at the Alligator's offices. Members of the Black Student Union have called for a boycott of the paper.

But many students approached this week said they either were not familiar with the cartoon or were not upset by it.

Kerry-Ann Fuller, an 18-year-old black student majoring in pharmacy, said the cartoon did not offend her.

"I have a lot of sleep to catch up on," she said. "That's been my main focus."

Her friend Anthony Manns, 19, also black, said he didn't see the cartoon but has heard about it.

"I wasn't so much offended by the cartoon," he said. "People got in such a fervor over the N-word that they forgot about the issue that propagated it."

Telles-Irvin, the vice president of student affairs, said she is concerned about what she perceives as a large group of students "who don't understand why this cartoon is offensive." She wants to use the controversy to educate students about "hurtful" stereotypes and racially charged language.

"I'm not saying that we shouldn't have differences, but I think we should express them in a more respectful way," she said. "And yes, we have freedom of speech, but let's be cognizant of its impact."

Alligator managing editor Eva Kis said there is a difference between what goes on the editorial page, where the cartoon appeared, and what is published in the news pages.

"This was a cartoon," said the 23-year-old journalism major, who is white. "It was not in the news section. It is truly alarming that people have been calling things on the opinion page "stories.' "

Last Sunday, two days after Gimignani received the death threat, he called his editorial board members together and asked them if they wanted to issue an apology.

Their response: "Hell, no," Gimignani said.

Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report.

[Last modified September 24, 2005, 00:59:07]