On publishing the cartoon

As I discussed yesterday, The Badger Herald decided to run one of the controversial Danish cartoons in its Monday edition. It was one of the most difficult decisions I have made as editor in chief of the paper, and one I maintain to have been proper.

Today, as the reaction to this decision seems to have worked through campus 24 hours later, Chancellor John Wiley issued a fair and decent statement on our editorial decision. In part, he notes:

Predictably, this action has brought home to Madison, Wisconsin, and to the university community, the same visceral, emotional response reported by the international media during the past several days. People that we all know, work with and study with are hurt, scarred by what they believe to be a senseless prolongation of an intentionally insensitive, racist and distorted commentary on the very foundation of one of the world's great religions. Understandably, those offended desire redress - apologies, retractions and, perhaps most importantly, a sense of communal condemnation. They see no justification for speech they perceive to have been hateful in character, injurious not only to their sense of place in the broader fabric of society, but to their spiritual selves.

This is not the first time that the swords of speech and controversy have clashed on this campus, and, most assuredly, it will not be the last. Most often, the disputes have involved charges of racial, ethnic or religious insensitivity, even hostility - not unlike the situation today. But any review of these disputes demonstrates a common finding: that the public controversies which ensued represent, together, a perfect embodiment of unrestricted speech in a free society, in which all views on a given subject were given equal weight and attention, aired so that every individual could form his or her own opinions. Then, as now, it should never be routine to recall that this university has for more than 100 years championed the cause of free and open debate, the "fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found," and that an increasingly complex world requires this standard more than ever.

I have been interviewed by a number of news outlets this evening and will provide links to the appropriate stories as they become available. For now, though, one thing I want to re-emphasize is that this was a difficult decision on the part of both myself and the rest of the Badger Herald editorial board. It was not something we did lightly or without due meditation. However, it is a decision that I will continue to defend.

I am now receiving a stream of letters (yes, letters to the editor do still go to the editor – I'm not sure how many papers that remains true of) and appreciate the sentiment behind each and every one of them. This is the sort of informed, intelligent debate I always hope to encourage and a rather shining example of the free speech we sought to promote by running this cartoon. Moreover, the Herald is dedicated to publishing as many reasonable responses as we can, within our spatial restrictions. A number of letters will be running in tomorrow's paper.

Again, I'll provide links and, where necessary, analysis, as this continues to unfold.