A regional Christian group started an email campaign against The Daily Mississippian, the campus newspaper for the University of Mississippi, for printing a sexually suggestive column in its April 8 edition.
The column, titled “Morning or afternoon-any time’s good for a ‘nooner'”, was written by one of the DM’s sex columnists, Sumer Rose. Tupelo-based American Family Association, led by Donald Wildmon, sponsored the drive that resulted in The DM receiving approximately 2000 emails.
According to The Clarion-Ledger, Wildmon said the column “promotes reckless and illicit sexual relations.”
Rose wrote, “Sex instead of lunch makes it a little easier to return to work for the rest of the afternoon, not to mention you burn calories rather than consumer them … So screw class, go home and screw instead.”
Julie Finely, The DM’s editor in chief, said, “I personally don’t agree with it. But that’s not my job as editor … to put my moral stance on the newspaper.”
Ralph Braseth, the director of UM’s Student Media Center and adviser to The DM, said, “I think (the sex columns) are tasteless. I think it hurts the newspaper’s credibility.”
Braseth was also quick to note the newspaper’s editorial freedom.
“(The students) alone determine content. No review. No censorship.”
The AFA’s form email, distributed through an associated group called “One Million Moms,” encouraged people to put pressure on UM administration, particularly Chancellor Robert Khayat, to fire Rose and end the sex column. The form email also sent the email to Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, a UM graduate.
The email asked, “Is this the kind of education you want your tax dollars providing our young men and women at Ole Miss?”
According to The Clarion-Ledger, Khayat has no plans to exercise control over The DM. However, Khayat said in a statement that “not everything that can be printed should be printed. We intend to impress this message on them.”
Finely questioned the timing of the email campaign.
“We’ve run some sort of sex column for three years. This column ran three weeks ago. We can’t figure it out.”