An article in The New York Times on Tuesday described the controversy about an article printed in the annual joke issue of Princeton University’s student newspaper, The Daily Princetonian.
The parody was about an Asian student who was writing back to Princeton about not being accepted. The byline, Lian Ji, closely resembles the name of an Asian student who was denied admission to Princeton and filed a civil rights complaint against the university in August, according to the article.
“Hi Princeton! Remember me? I so good at math and science. Perfect 2400 SAT score. Ring Bells?” the article began. “What is wrong with you no color people? Yellow people make the world go round. We cook greasy food, wash your clothes and let you copy our homework.”
In an editorial note printed in the newspaper, it said about the parody: “We embraced racist language in order to strangle it. At its worst, the column was a bad joke; at its best, it provoked serious thought about issues of race, fairness and diversity.”
At The Lantern, we condemn the use of such racial references as a mask to bring about a racial dialogue among the newspaper’s readers. There are other ways to achieve this affect, and college newspapers should strive to uphold the integrity of the student body. Student newspapers should serve as the student voice for the university it represents and including such language in it is a misrepresentation of the school and the students.
There is a fine line between using a joke to raise a dialogue on race and blatantly using it as a racial stereotype. The newspaper also said several Asian staff members contributed to the story, however, this does not make racial jokes funny or acceptable.
If they wanted to address the issue of race, they could have done so with a series about racial discrimination or they could have asked the student who filed a complaint against the university why he felt the way he did. Encouraging and using racial stereotypes is childish and completely unnecessary.
Just because the newspaper decided to print this in a joke issue does not make it right – jokes should be funny, not offensive. The newspaper has a standard to uphold and by using classless language and insults that were in the parody article, they are showing immaturity. As students of such a prestigious newspaper, the editors need to re-evaluate their definition of what is OK to print and what is offensive.
Being such a prestigious university, the members of The Daily Princetonian should understand they are not only writing for their fellow students, but also for readers throughout the nation. We strongly urge them to take full responsibility for their actions, which were irresponsible, inappropriate and insensitive.
