Protests spark review of UWO Gazette
SACKVILLE, N.B. (CUP) -- Jenna Owsiniak has been a vocal opponent of the University of Western Ontario's student newspaper, the Gazette, for over a year. But when she picked up a copy of the Gazette on April 5, she found that the tables had been turned and the paper had targeted her in their annual spoof issue.
Under the headline “Labia Majora Carnage,” the vagina of a student named Jennifer Ostrich is taken into a dark alley by the London police chief, named explicitly, “to teach it a lesson.”
“It is me, without a doubt in my mind,” Owsiniak said.
The article depicted the student leading a protest for “Take Back the Nighties” as male spectators masturbated on the sidelines.
Owsiniak believes she was targeted because of her vocal protest against the Gazette in the past. In the 2006 spoof issue, this time last year, a female UWO student was shown naked on the front cover of the issue without her permission. It was then that Owsiniak began to demand more sensitivity and awareness from the campus paper.
“You can't deny how vocal I was,” she said.
This year, she said, “I think it's an intimidation tactic.”
But the article has not gone unnoticed. According to Owsiniak, a formal protest was held outside the Gazette's offices April 4. Courtney Watson, a fourth-year student at UWO, said a second protest was held April 10.
According to Oswiniak, the protest was organized by UWO student Craig Ashborn, who was upset by the alleged homophobic content that also appeared in the spoof issue.
The Gazette has replied to the criticisms in the paper. An April 4 editorial told those who felt “hey were negatively portrayed or were outright attacked in the Spoof Issue,” to “get over yourself,” and defended the issue as a place for jokes.
A piece published in the April 10 paper took a different approach.
“Labia Majora Carnage' . . . was intended to satirize perceptions of women and feminism,” read the article.
“But we -- in no way, shape or form -- meant to trivialize or make light of something like sexual assault. As more and more letters came in, it became apparent the article was misinterpreted. That isn't the readers' fault. Obviously, we failed at our attempt to make social commentary.”
An online poll asking for feedback on the issue has resulted in 483 votes calling the issue “offensive” and 97 people who “loved it.” Previous polls on the paper's website rarely resulted in a single category gaining more than 100 votes.
According to a report in the London Free Press, a local newspaper, at least 20 people complained to the university's equity office and two dozen complaints were handled by the president.
The controversy has caused the University Students' Council to initiate a focus group on how the paper might be improved and held more accountable to students.
“We need to look at issues like editor accountability to students,” said University Students' Council president Fab Doran. “Also look at some of the systemic things.
“It's OK to have fun, but they need to get more perspectives in there.”
The student council is the Gazette's publisher, but stands at arm's length from the editorial side of the paper. The editor of the Gazette is elected by the staff of the paper.
Doran said that one of the key issues that the focus group will be looking at is whether the editor can be dismissed “in a student-initiated removal process.”
Owsiniak is one of the people arguing to initiate the review. She believes the issues go beyond the actions of a single editor and have become part of the culture of the newspaper.
Doran, though, thinks the issue is more complicated than that.
“Is it a male-centric paper? I don't think that's their intent,” he said. “It's not a result of intent but one of process and a lack of quality volunteers.”
The editor-in-chief of the paper, Ian van den Hurk, could not be reached for comment by press time.
As with many campus controversies, however, the issues are larger to those involved than to those on the sidelines. Some students on campus are only vaguely aware that anything is amiss.
Lindsay Goldbold, a fourth-year student, said, “There was a little bit of controversy surrounding it, a couple petitions and stuff but that's about it. But then again I don't even really know how many people read the Gazette.”
Doran is confident the outgoing editor will have some good recommendations for the incoming editorial board and that the focus group will also provide valuable input.
This week marks the Gazette's final issues until September, when a new editorial staff will take over.
Under the headline “Labia Majora Carnage,” the vagina of a student named Jennifer Ostrich is taken into a dark alley by the London police chief, named explicitly, “to teach it a lesson.”
“It is me, without a doubt in my mind,” Owsiniak said.
The article depicted the student leading a protest for “Take Back the Nighties” as male spectators masturbated on the sidelines.
Owsiniak believes she was targeted because of her vocal protest against the Gazette in the past. In the 2006 spoof issue, this time last year, a female UWO student was shown naked on the front cover of the issue without her permission. It was then that Owsiniak began to demand more sensitivity and awareness from the campus paper.
“You can't deny how vocal I was,” she said.
This year, she said, “I think it's an intimidation tactic.”
But the article has not gone unnoticed. According to Owsiniak, a formal protest was held outside the Gazette's offices April 4. Courtney Watson, a fourth-year student at UWO, said a second protest was held April 10.
According to Oswiniak, the protest was organized by UWO student Craig Ashborn, who was upset by the alleged homophobic content that also appeared in the spoof issue.
The Gazette has replied to the criticisms in the paper. An April 4 editorial told those who felt “hey were negatively portrayed or were outright attacked in the Spoof Issue,” to “get over yourself,” and defended the issue as a place for jokes.
A piece published in the April 10 paper took a different approach.
“Labia Majora Carnage' . . . was intended to satirize perceptions of women and feminism,” read the article.
“But we -- in no way, shape or form -- meant to trivialize or make light of something like sexual assault. As more and more letters came in, it became apparent the article was misinterpreted. That isn't the readers' fault. Obviously, we failed at our attempt to make social commentary.”
An online poll asking for feedback on the issue has resulted in 483 votes calling the issue “offensive” and 97 people who “loved it.” Previous polls on the paper's website rarely resulted in a single category gaining more than 100 votes.
According to a report in the London Free Press, a local newspaper, at least 20 people complained to the university's equity office and two dozen complaints were handled by the president.
The controversy has caused the University Students' Council to initiate a focus group on how the paper might be improved and held more accountable to students.
“We need to look at issues like editor accountability to students,” said University Students' Council president Fab Doran. “Also look at some of the systemic things.
“It's OK to have fun, but they need to get more perspectives in there.”
The student council is the Gazette's publisher, but stands at arm's length from the editorial side of the paper. The editor of the Gazette is elected by the staff of the paper.
Doran said that one of the key issues that the focus group will be looking at is whether the editor can be dismissed “in a student-initiated removal process.”
Owsiniak is one of the people arguing to initiate the review. She believes the issues go beyond the actions of a single editor and have become part of the culture of the newspaper.
Doran, though, thinks the issue is more complicated than that.
“Is it a male-centric paper? I don't think that's their intent,” he said. “It's not a result of intent but one of process and a lack of quality volunteers.”
The editor-in-chief of the paper, Ian van den Hurk, could not be reached for comment by press time.
As with many campus controversies, however, the issues are larger to those involved than to those on the sidelines. Some students on campus are only vaguely aware that anything is amiss.
Lindsay Goldbold, a fourth-year student, said, “There was a little bit of controversy surrounding it, a couple petitions and stuff but that's about it. But then again I don't even really know how many people read the Gazette.”
Doran is confident the outgoing editor will have some good recommendations for the incoming editorial board and that the focus group will also provide valuable input.
This week marks the Gazette's final issues until September, when a new editorial staff will take over.
