Pa. high school newspaper editor suspended for refusal to use the term 'redskin'

[Newsjock]

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/270209/high-school-newspaper-editor-suspended-for-refusal-to-use-the-term-redskin/

The faculty adviser and student editor of a high school newspaper in southeast Pennsylvania were suspended amid a drawn-out fight over the paper’s refusal to use the term “redskin,” Anna Schiffbauer writes for the Student Press Law Center.

Tara Huber, adviser to Neshaminy High School’s Playwickian newspaper, was suspended without pay Tuesday and Wednesday by Neshaminy School District superintendent Robert Copeland, according to the SPLC. Copeland also suspended Playwickian editor-in-chief Gillian McGoldrick from her position for a month.

The suspensions stem from the paper’s decision not to use “redskin” in its pages, despite insistence from principal Rob McGee.

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

1. Mark Twain - "In the first place, God made idiots..."

"In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards."

--Mark Twain

The best comment in the linked article is the ending quote from the SPLC attorney:

“It may be possible to get dumber people on a school board, but I don’t how you go about it,” Goldstein said.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. So, are there other racial terms they are required to print...

when someone uses them in a submission?

Let's see the full list of banned words and the principal's attitude toward the rest of them.

[malthaussen]

3. See, if she were a cop and shot a kid...

... she'd be suspended with pay. Bad career choice, Tara.

-- Mal

[malthaussen]

4. Odd that the article doesn't mention that the team's name is Redskins.

So it is a pointed stand by the editorial staff.

-- Mal

[gratuitous]

9. Interesting omission

Maybe the high school could change its nickname? The Neshaminy Pickaninnies has a certain lilt to it. If that seems offensive to some, the current nickname is just as offensive, although perhaps not to you personally.

[SheilaT]

13. Oh yes!

"The Neshaminy Pickaninnies has a certain lilt to it." You should write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper and suggest that.

Too bad there isn't something similarly alliterative to suggest as a new nickname for the football team in our nation's capitol.

[whistler162]

15. Both articles are sloppy in the journalism arena

no mention of the context that redskin was used. Was it a recipe calling for redskin potatoes or a reminder that staying out to long in the sun can cause red skin and sun burns?

[Rose Siding]

5. What a good lesson in principled journalism for the students.

I hope they pay attention.

[msanthrope]

6. Robert McGee, the Principal involved, is a fucking douchebag.....

What do you call someone who wanders the hallways of a large suburban high school with a shopping cart, frantically scooping up newly printed newspapers and confiscating them so no one can read them...all because that newspaper had a editor's note and a white box where it declined to publish a letter to the editor that contained a word that many people, including the student editors of the paper, consider to be racist and offensive?

You might think that man with a shopping cart is a raving lunatic who wandered in off the streets.

Or it could just be Neshaminy High School principal Robert McGee.

This bizarre confiscation of newspapers is the latest twist in a bizarro-world freedom-of-the-press controversy in the Bucks County school, where earlier this year student editors of the wonderfully named Playwickian newspaper voted to stop using the name of the sports mascot -- the same racially offensive word that inexplicably remains the name of Washington's NFL franchise. That's when all hell broke lose. School officials led by McGee, ordered the young editors and reporters to use this "R-word" -- or else.



Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/The-worst-person-in-the-world-Neshaminy-principal-.html#TrhcE01D55k7Yhz1.99

[kiri]

21. close to Abington for Sep of C&S

This odd district is near where the Abington vs Schempp case started. In 1963, SCOTUS decided 8-1 that Bible-reading and prayer in public schools violated the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment.

Morality has gone downhill ever since, some say, but thousands of kids have been spared from authoritarian dogma. "Saved". Saved from principals and preachers.

see also about kids and gravity: http://thehumanist.com/magazine/september-october-2006/features/warning-gravity-is-only-a-theory

[Hoppy]

24. Too bad we can't find a crab in the Chesapeake Bay and attach a string to it.

Principal McGee would then have a companion to patrol the halls and for offending newspapers.




(For the yutes who don't know the reference, get a copy of The Caine Mutiny.)

[MadrasT]

7. It is a shameful couple of weeks for Pennsylvania.

The state trooper assassination with the suspect still running amok, the gay hate crime in Philly, and now this.

This fucking state.

[Dont call me Shirley]

11. Yeah, plus their longstanding history of incest and child molestation.

[Hoppy]

25. Don't you mean West Virginia?

[Dont call me Shirley]

26. Pennsy is just as bad as WV; they just don't have as bad the reputation for it as WV

[NotHardly]

8. Here's a little item of interest.... re Tara Huber

Playwickian adviser wins Journalism Teacher of Year from PSPA by NSD Website Administrator | on June 11th, 2014 http://playwickian.com/playwickian-adviser-wins-journalism-teacher-of-year-from-pspa/

[pinboy3niner]

10. Thanks for the info, and welcome to DU!

[aggiesal]

12. McGee must be a die hard 'Redskin' fan ...

otherwise I see no reason the faculty adviser or the student editor should even get suspended.

I'll bet that the principal loses his job for this.

[tclambert]

14. Was the article about potatoes?

Those racist, racist potatoes.

[Cartoonist]

16. My suggested compromise

for both teams is to keep the name but change the logo from a native American to a potato.

[whistler162]

17. or....

[riqster]

18. Ow!

[tooeyeten]

19. Daniel Snyder billionaire NFL owner

Put to shame by these young women.

[cheapdate]

20. The principle is apparently one of those particular kind of assholes

who is compelled to proudly broadcast his contempt for all things he deems "liberal".

[Cha]

23. Yes, and totally insensitive to Native Americans..

redcorn
6 days ago · Fedex field Washington Redskins Stadium
We had a blast shooting with @thedailyshow Jason Jones is a master of his craft. We will keep you in the loop as to when the show airs but many thanks to them for amplifying our voices to #changethename

http://instagram.com/p/s8Q8ynNTSa/

https://www.facebook.com/1491s

[Cha]

22. Damn.. Looks like principle Rob McGee is the one with issues.. but, of course, Tara Huber gets

"suspended".. thanks Newsjock

[Quantess]

27. Principal sounds like a rigid control freak

who insists everyone respect his authoritay just because he said so, or else!

[The Jungle 1]

28. Neshaminy White Trash

Understand that this is a community that fought with their teachers union for over five years.
The teachers were called every name in the book.
The teachers worked for five years without a contract. When they finally went out on strike you would have thought the world was coming to an end. These people just don't get it.

I think a good new name for the school would be "Neshaminy White Trash". Try that for a couple of years and let me know how it works out.

This community is clueless. If you are looking for a home in south eastern Pa. don't look here.

The teacher involved in this mess took a very brave stand. I salute her as a great American. Even the local paper attacked her for not blindly obeying her boss.

[bhikkhu]

29. Its the "n" word for Native Americans

and not much appreciated, though people who live where there aren't many native americans might be oblivious. We have a reasonably large native population where I live, and nobody uses the word except as an insult or an obnoxious joke in a private setting (in the same way as the "n" word is used).

[santroy79]

30. They should be suspended without pay

If their boss tells them to do something that isnt against the law then what do they think will happen.

You can stand up for what you believe in but don't cry when there are consequences.