The cartoon associated with the opinion piece, “Independents need more ownership of Homecoming,” in The Butler Collegian last week was done in poor taste, not to mention inaccurately.
I am not opposed to The Collegian’s opinion about the decision to not let Independent Council have a team in this year’s Homecoming. This was an editorial piece. The Collegian reserves the right to have that opinion and express it.
I am focusing on the cartoon along with this article. The first issue I want to address is that it clearly compared this story to racism. Referring to Homecoming as a bus and that IC has to sit in the back is unquestionably a comparison to the civil rights movement.
I ask The Collegian, was there no other way to use exaggerated speech to make your point?
This is incredibly offensive, but the comparison is not my main concern. This type of expression is legal, and if The Collegian wants to represent their opinion in a distasteful way, so be it.
The main issue is the inaccuracy of the cartoon. It was the Butler administration’s decision to not let IC have a Homecoming team in the article.
However, the Barbie-type girl with the word “Greek” on her shirt refers to the Homecoming bus as “our bus” in the cartoon.
Homecoming is an SGA-sponsored event under Program Board. It is not an exclusively Greek event. This cartoon attacked the Greek community, who was not even a player in the decision making process.
I understand The Collegian’s opinion in the article and may have even adjusted my own after reading it.
However, The Collegian’s opinion lost all credibility associating the article with the cartoon.
It looks like an attack on the Greek community, rather than expressing a grievance toward the appropriate party—the administration.
The article could have helped relations with IC and Greeks. The cartoon undermined the opinion and ruined any good that could have come out of this editorial piece.
I reject that “editorial cartoons represent those of the cartoonist,” from a Facebook post by The Collegian. There should be a disclaimer if The Collegian does not want ownership.
-Leslie Gardner, senior
