Editor of college paper that ran 'f***' Bush editorial says he'd run it again

David Edwards and Jason Rhyne

Published: Monday September 24, 2007





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The editorial board of a Colorado State University student newspaper didn't mince words criticizing President Bush following a free speech debate sparked by the recent tasing of a Florida student.

"Taser this FUCK BUSH," the entirety of a four-word column read in the student-run Rocky Mountain Collegian.

"We felt that maybe four words were more impactful than 250," said Dave McSwane, the paper's editor, in a segment shown on CNN's American Morning. The wording of the editorial was agreed upon by the Collegian's seven-member board.

"Our intentions weren't 'hey let's really upset the community," McSwane said. "Our intentions were let's get college students talking about freedom of speech."

Asked by CNN's John Roberts if the wording of the piece could be characterized as vulgar or sophomoric, he said "wouldn't entirely disagree."

"Free speech, you know, when you say things like this you don't expect everyone to agree with it," the editor added.

"While we understand that the editorial...is upsetting and offensive to many people," a statement from Colorado State University read, "CSU is prohibited by law from censoring or regulating the content of its student media publications."

McSwane has been asked to appear before the university's Board of Student Communications to defend his job, and says he "absolutely" stands by the piece.

"We wanted people to understand that free speech is something we should talk about," he said. "We felt that this campus, for one reason or another, has been really apathetic. Too quiet. We felt that the best way to spark that dialogue was to exercise it ourselves."

The following video is from CNN 's American Morning, broadcast on September 20.



