Last year about this time (actually April 14, 2003), I wrote about an April Fool’s edition of a college newspaper that caused the paper to be shut down and everyone associated with the newspaper to lose their jobs. Well, it seems that students at even the most prestigious colleges can’t seem to learn from the past. Today’s CNN web page carries a story about the April Fool’s edition of The Tartan, the student newspaper at Carnegie Mellon University. The edition featured a cartoon containing a racial slur.

The Tartan, the student paper at Carnegie Mellon University, fired the cartoonist, agreed not to publish again until autumn and decided to hire an ethics manager to review future issues. Two editors also resigned.

I’m continually amazed at the churlishness of today’s society that is being fostered at our colleges. The excuse offered by the newspaper was:

Editor in Chief Alex Meseguer said the cartoon made it into print because fatigue clouded editors’ judgment.

That implies that at some previous time, judgement was present…. I seriously doubt it.