A controversial article published in CU-Boulder’s Campus Press, an online student newspaper, calling for a “war” on Asian students prompted a meeting of concerned individuals on the DU campus last Friday.

Trisa Bui, president of the DU Asian Student Alliance, and Kenneth Phi, vice president of the group organized, the event as “two concerned indivuals of the Asian community,” said Bui.

The meeting was organized to provide a forum for discussion about the article and propose possible solutions. Approximately 30 people, including prominent leaders of the Asian community in Colorado and members of both the DU and CU community attended the event in Daniels College of Business.

No formal resolution was reached after two hours of heated discussion, but numerous attendants stated their desire to send letters to CU and continue to work toward a common solution.

The article, “If it’s war the Asians want…It’s war they’ll get” was written by Max Karson and published in the Feb. 18 issue of Campus Press. Karson wrote that Asians hated whites and called for action to be taken. “…it’s time we started hating them back. That’s right – no more “tolerance.” No more “cultural sensitivity.” No more “Mr. Pretend-I’m-Not-Racist.” It’s time for war,” wrote Karson.

According to apologies released by the editors of Campus Press and the Chancellor of the University of Colorado, the article was meant as a satire and social commentary.

In the apology posted on the Campus Press Web site (www.thecampuspress.com), the editors wrote, “Karson’s opinion is satire and is a commentary on racism at CU published in our opinion section, not presented as fact or incitement, and not published to intentionally incite controversy.”

Chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson mirrored this statement. “The column was a poor attempt at social satire laden with offensive references, stereotypes and hateful language,” Peterson said.

He added that the column is “protected under the First Amendment” but that the opinions expressed do not reflect those of Campus Press or the CU community as a whole.

The response meeting held at DU had three goals: unite the community, engage a discussion and create solutions to move forward and prevent the recurrence of such an event.

“An apology does not do it,” said the vice-chair of the Denver Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, in response to the chancellor and editor’s published apologies. “They haven’t taken care of it.”

A number of groups have written letters to CU stating their distress over the publication of this article and a request for action to be taken, including the Asian Roundtable and the office of Denver’s Mayor Hickenlooper.

In response to the controversy surrounding Karson’s article, the Dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at CU-Boulder, Paul S. Voakes, released a statement on Feb. 21 outlining a number of “next steps” that would be taken by Campus Press.

These include adopting an opinions policy that outlines standards and procedures for determining the acceptability of opinion columns or other reader-generated content; a series of workshops on diversity and opinion writing to be attended by the entire staff; and the establishment of a Student Diversity Advisory Board, which would be composed of non-journalism majors who represent a broad range of interests on campus whose job it would be to provide editors with feedback on what is being published.

Those present at the DU meeting wanted more concrete steps to be taken, however. Many also stated their disbelief that Karson’s article could fall under the First Amendment’s protection of speech.

“I don’t see any joking [in the article],” said Chris Choe, a CU student on why the article should not be considered free speech. “That’s a threat, and I don’t see why it’s just being dismissed and marginalized as satirical.”

Choe quit his job soon after the publication of Karson’s article because he no longer wanted to help raise money for the university.

“[We] have to look at the administration,” said Amie Ha, a CU student. “Our school has always experienced problems with diversity.”

Others placed the responsibility on the editors of the Campus Press.

A number of possible solutions were proposed by the group.

Potential solutions included having open meetings with Chancellor Peterson; providing diversity and cultural sensitivity training on campus; informing the alumni of what happened in order to potentially decrease their donations; contacting politicians; holding a public hearing with the community; and creating a letter containing a list of demands to be met by the university.

Audience members suggested influencing community members and alumni to stop donating money to the university.

Others recommended contacting businesses that advertise in the Campus Press and having them pull their advertisements.

“There needs to be transparency in the progress,” said Ha.

On Feb. 22, the University of Colorado Student Union’s Legislative Council passed a resolution that formally opposed both Karson’s article and another opinion piece published in Campus Press. The resolution states that both articles are protected by the First Amendment, but members of the Council also stated that there is a “burden of responsibility associated with free speech rights.”

According to a Denver Post article published on Feb. 22, Karson was arrested last year and barred from attending classes for statements he made during class in which he said he understood why the gunman at Virginia Tech would shoot his classmates.

Editors of the Campus Press, their adviser and CU’s spokesperson could not be reached for comment.