By David Cruz
A controversial parody of a student column that appeared in a satirical campus publication at Rutgers University has caused a stir on campus, prompting some to call for stricter controls on objectionable speech.
Aaron Marcus is a student columnist for the Daily Targum, Rutgers’ official newspaper, and a sometimes guest on national news shows like The Sean Hannity Show and forums with a conservative youth group. His column in the Targum is mostly given to pro-Israeli sentiment.
You could debate whether or not he’s “just a student.” Still, Aaron says he wants it known that he did not write the column titled “What about the good things Hitler did?” which appeared under his name in the The Daily Medium, a satirical student-run publication. He says some of the sentiment in the piece, like giving Hitler credit for inspiring Jews to form a Jewish state, damaged his good name.
“I think that a student who has a public presence on campus is still a student,” says Andrew Getraer, who runs the Rutgers Hillel, a center for Jewish student life on campus. “If you’re going to satirize a student, it should be clear that it is satire. In this case, they represented an article exactly the way that Aaron’s picture and his column are in the normal campus newspaper, so that people honestly believe that he wrote this.”
Some students clearly missed the satire part of the Medium’s satire, and wondered if something akin to hate speech was hiding behind the first amendment.
“Banning is a very, very strong step. I wouldn’t endorse that, but there are certainly stories and things that the Medium could publish that would be unacceptable,” said student Boris Yakubchik. “It’s hard to draw the line exactly where that is, but, quite clearly, some [of what was in the parody] was obviously not acceptable.”
Student Benyamin Sheias says the Medium’s column is the latest example of a casual anti-Semitism on campus.
“Should they publish articles that say black people shouldn’t vote? No. Should they publish articles that say things about Muhammad? No,” he said. “Why is it OK to publish articles that make fun of Jews. That’s a common theme that’s been going on on this campus.”
Journalism professor Ron Miskoff, one of the Medium’s faculty advisors, says the editors recognize that their attempt at April Fool’s humor missed the mark, but that those calling for restrictions on student publications miss the point.
“In rights of expression, the Supreme Court has ruled many times that campuses deserve even more free speech than out in the general public, and the Medium always likes to test the edges of where that freedom is,” said Miskoff. “I think actually that’s a good thing for a campus publication to find out how far it can go.”
The university is investigating whether or not the publication of the satire went too far and crossed over into hate speech.
WATCH VIDEO: