University of Wisconsin at La Crosse: Censorship of Student Magazine

The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse's (UW-L) Student Senate reversed its decision to limit the printing of a student magazine that the Senate deemed offensive. The magazine, titled The Second Supper Alternative News, wrote an article in its February 2006 issue titled "Cheney Kills Five Crips in Inner-City Hunting Accident." The Senate passed a resolution stating that the Second Supper's "racist, sexist, homophobic, ablest (sic), anti-Semitists (sic) speech" would "threaten the recruitment and retention of students from underrepresented groups," so it ordered the magazine to cut its distribution from 2,000 copies per issue to only 60--a 97% reduction. FIRE wrote UW-L Chancellor Douglas N. Hastad, reminding him of UW-L's duty to uphold students' First Amendment rights. The resolution was rescinded five days later.