Letter: Parody paper not amusing

To the editor:

It is disheartening to think that the most embarrassing day for the senior class comes during their last semester at St. Joe's.

For the first time in four years, the Office of Admissions had to remove each issue of the Squawk from the rest of the paper. As students, visitors, donors, and the greater community opened the paper on Wednesday, March 28, they were greeted with the disgrace of this year's Squawk. While in past years the Hawk staff has settled for wit and clever commentary on our University, this year's travesty of journalism crossed lines of sexuality, violence, respect, and plain old good taste. It shames us, especially as seniors, to think that this issue of the student publication represents our voice to the outside world.

Where to begin? Earlier this week, some disrespectful student was kind enough to dump an old case of beer onto Cardinal Rigali's lawn; as if living and working next to a college campus were not difficult enough, The Squawk saw fit to publish a public and tasteless attack on a prominent authority within the Catholic Church. The piece may have intended to be ironic, but the language succeeded only in being vulgar and unnecessary, as well as possibly demeaning those it meant to defend. It insulted such a vast number of different people and religions that any humor it contained was soon lost. We find it inappropriate to insult the idea of religion in general when attending an institution guided by religious principles.

And when asked why stories such as the one fabricating the murder of a specific student were printed, an editor replied that it was a "joke." By definition, a joke is something that is amusing. What in the world is amusing about losing a member of our community to some gruesome and horrible death? During our four years we have mourned the loss of several students and find it insensitive at best to make light of any death. It seems that the point of the article was supposed to be the disappointing attendance at the women's basketball games, but this joke was clouded by a vicious and unnecessary personal attack and gratuitous language. How dare anyone think that any part of this article is a joke.

Two inappropriate jokes would be more than enough, but the Squawk was also littered with more charades. The gracious and hardworking President of the University was mocked his own graduating seniors. While parodies come with the territory of being a public figure, crude and invasive mock advertisements cross the line. Plainly, it is inappropriate to attach the President's name and photo to a condom ad.

While part of each page of the Squawk deserves to be cristicized, letters to the editor come under a word limit; we can't go on forever. Last Tuesday we looked forward to what traditionally have been witty observations. This issue of the Squawk fell far short of our expectations. Even if the subjects of the parodies had approved of them, this paper represents the entire student body - donors, parents, and prospective students may not be in on the "joke." While we appreciate the idea of poking fun at ourselves and the University, creating outrageous and irrelevant stories is a wasted effort. Nearly everything mentioned in the Squawk goes against the mission of the University and the Jesuit values.

At the end of the day we think the only joke here is those responsible for this year's Squawk.

Sarah Lincoln, '07

Ryan Nerney, '07

Kati Nugent, '07

Kelly Robinson, '07