The recent publication of a controversial cartoon at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has incited much debate among students about the nature of First Amendment rights.
The Daily Tar Heel-UNC's student-run newspaper-published a student-drawn cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad after a series of similar cartoons appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
The Danish paper originally printed six cartoons Sept. 20 depicting the prophet, sparking violent protests around the world. Islamic tradition discourages any non-iconic representation of the prophet's image. The most controversial cartoon featured Muhammad with a bomb-shaped turban.
DTH ran a cartoon Feb. 9 that pictured Muhammad between two mosque windows-one showing a Danish flag and sunny skies and another showing a protester and a burning building. Next to the first window, Muhammad's text bubble read, "They may get me from my bad side...." By the other window, the prophet's bubble read, "... but they show me from my worst."
The Campus Y and Muslim Students Association at UNC hosted an educational forum and vigil Feb.16 in response to the issue of the prophet's depiction.
About 20 UNC students who considered the cartoon insensitive staged a sit-in at the DTH office Feb. 20, demanding a printed apology for publishing the cartoon. The sit-in was not endorsed by the MSA.
Despite the protests, DTH editor-in-chief Ryan Tuck, a senior, decided not to print a formal apology about the publication of the cartoon, although he personally apologized for its offensive nature.
"The newspaper since its initiation has been a forum of expression, a place to challenge societal ideals and to generate discussion to look toward positive change," he wrote in an online editor's blog. "I don't think we violated that mission, but perhaps strengthened it."
Liz Gregory, a senior at UNC and the public editor of DTH, said the experience defined the line between freedom of speech and poor taste.
"An important dialogue has been sparked here, not only concerning freedom of the press, but also the sensitivity of religious groups on campus," she added.
Gregory said she thought protesters agreed with the message but were offended by the depiction of the prophet.
"It was incredibly insensitive to portray Muhammad visually," she said. "A different character would have been much more effective and less offensive to the Muslim population and the population in general."
Duke senior Bilal Aijazi, vice president of MSA at the University, said he thinks cartoons are an inappropriate way to represent this particular message. "Comics are supposed to be funny, but this depiction has so much gravity for Muslims," he said.
Aijazi also said the caricature at UNC had a good message, because the Danish cartoons were bad-but so was the Muslim reaction. Violent Muslim protests have "forced Muslims to reassess themselves somewhat," he added. "Despite the fact that the [cartoons] are deeply sacrilegious, the reactions to them really shocked educated and intelligent Muslims, making us think about how we are going to react to different forms of attacks."
Some other college newspapers, including a conservative biweekly at Harvard University, have also chosen to run the depictions of Muhammad. Two editors of The Daily Illini, the student-run newspaper at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, were suspended after the paper published the six Danish cartoons.
Eleven journalists in five countries are facing prosecution for publishing the caricatures. Major American newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Chicago Tribune, have decided not to print the cartoons.
Ken Rogerson, Duke professor of public policy studies who teaches a newspaper journalism course, noted the importance of news organizations thoughtfully considering which battles they would like to fight.
"There is no question that they have the right to publish the cartoon, especially on the editorial pages, because there is a theoretical distinction between news and editorials," he said. "The nature of political sensitivities around the world, however, has made the reality for news organizations that they need to think harder about the potential consequences."
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