Controversy
In the November 2008, the Daily ran an op-ed column written by John Fay, a columnist, which criticized gay marriage as part of a point/counterpoint regarding the passage of Proposition 8 in California. The piece was accompanied by an illustration of a man standing next to a sheep, referencing Fay's statement that allowing gay marriage would lead to legal bestiality. Among other controversial statements, Fay argued that "being homosexual, like other emotional tendencies, doesn’t make someone a bad person, but it’s a problem that needs to be dealt with, not denied." The article sparked an outrage among the student body, and students assembled in the Husky Union Building to protest, claiming that the article encourages "fear and hate."
The Graduate and Professional Student Senate drafted a resolution at their December 3, 2008 meeting to have the editor-in-chief and opinion editor to either apologize for the publication of the opinion piece and illustration, or to resign.
Daily editor-in-chief Sarah Jeglum stated that she supports balanced viewpoints and doesn't plan to give the apology as requested. She encouraged groups and individuals to continue to voice their various opinions and to have The Daily act as a public forum for a variety of opinion.
The Graduate and Professional Student Senate passed a resolution at their February 4, 2009 meeting to direct the GPSS representative on the Board of Student Publications to vote for censure of editor-in-chief Sarah Jeglum.
http://www.gpss.washington.edu/documents
On February 10, 2009 the Associated Students of the University of Washington (ASUW) passed a resolution supporting "the independence of The Daily as a member of the free press," and "its right to publish controversial material provided it is within the bounds of speech protected by the first amendment and THAT the ASUW finds that printing this article did not cross those legal boundaries and did not violate The Daily’s code of ethics, thus a call for censure of Sarah Jeglum is not warranted."
http://senate.asuw.org/legislation/15/R/R-15-19.html
The Board of Student Publications met February 19 to consider the GPSS resolution to censure Sarah Jeglum. The board voted with two yea, and five nay and the resolution failed to be adopted by the Board.
ASUW then considered another resolution in response the GPSS attempt to censure to establish Free Speech and National Freedom of Speech Week during the third week of October.
http://senate.asuw.org/legislation/15/R/R-15-28.html
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