Stephen Heyman, the editor of my old Brandeis college paper The Justice who had to deal last year with a near-race riot that followed the publication of a racial slur in the paper, has written an excellent goodbye letter as he leaves office, and in it he revisits the story.
In short, for those of you who are newer, it was an all-too-common tale of campus politics run amok: a sports columnist for the paper, who handed in his column minutes before the paper went to press, included in it a reference to Cubs manager Dusty Baker as the “n-word.” In the ensuing brouhaha, the writer and six editors resigned, student organizations made non-negotiable demands and threatened a race riot, and ultimately, the university administrators refused to allow the publication of the paper until Heyman tendered his resignation (later rescinded). Then, administrators lied about doing so to the Boston Globe.
My take on the situation from back in October of ’03 is available here, and fellow ‘deis album Josh has more. Also, I see that the author of the Dusty Baker article has started a blog. No, I will not link to it.