Spring Break
Comedic magazine to hold publishing next fall
by Claire Moses
News | 5/22/07
Posted online at 5:02 AM EST on 5/22/07
The former editors of Gravity Magazine, who resigned after printing a racially controversial fake advertisement last month, announced that instead of creating an issue in the fall they will focus on implementing a more professional editorial process for the humor publication.
The BlackJerry advertisement features a "BlackJerry," which it bills as an alternative to the popular BlackBerry cellular phone. It depicts a black man dressed in the minstrel style offering to drive a white traveler from Waltham to the airport in his Camry.
The text beside the image reads, in part: "I don't know where the car came from or why it's missing a window, but in no time I'm doing a buck-twenty down I-90 while the BlackJerry rolls up a j and starts humming my favorite mp3s. And all for only 3/5 the cost of a BlackBerry."
Jonathan Rubinger '08, the ad's author, and Ben Douglas '08, Gravity's former editor in chief, who will remain on staff, have decided not to print an issue next semester after a meeting with leaders of several other publications and campus minority groups soon after the ad printed.
Douglas said not printing demonstrates their recognition of wrongdoing and dedication to improving their editorial process, he said.
"It is a great step that Gravity has decided to suspend publication of their magazine for a semester," Student Union President Shreeya Sinha '09 wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.
Editors resigned after the Union Senate passed a near-unanimous resolution that condemned the magazine and called on Rubinger and the editors of Gravity to apologize publicly "for the offensive material published in their latest issue" and to resign. The resolution also called for a judicial investigation into what senators called a violation of the University's code of student conduct, and asked the Senate to consider dechartering the magazine.
Douglas said he doubts that the Senate will decharter Gravity, especially since the group has taken responsibility and decided not to print a fall issue.
The BlackJerry advertisement features a "BlackJerry," which it bills as an alternative to the popular BlackBerry cellular phone. It depicts a black man dressed in the minstrel style offering to drive a white traveler from Waltham to the airport in his Camry.
The text beside the image reads, in part: "I don't know where the car came from or why it's missing a window, but in no time I'm doing a buck-twenty down I-90 while the BlackJerry rolls up a j and starts humming my favorite mp3s. And all for only 3/5 the cost of a BlackBerry."
Jonathan Rubinger '08, the ad's author, and Ben Douglas '08, Gravity's former editor in chief, who will remain on staff, have decided not to print an issue next semester after a meeting with leaders of several other publications and campus minority groups soon after the ad printed.
Douglas said not printing demonstrates their recognition of wrongdoing and dedication to improving their editorial process, he said.
"It is a great step that Gravity has decided to suspend publication of their magazine for a semester," Student Union President Shreeya Sinha '09 wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.
Editors resigned after the Union Senate passed a near-unanimous resolution that condemned the magazine and called on Rubinger and the editors of Gravity to apologize publicly "for the offensive material published in their latest issue" and to resign. The resolution also called for a judicial investigation into what senators called a violation of the University's code of student conduct, and asked the Senate to consider dechartering the magazine.
Douglas said he doubts that the Senate will decharter Gravity, especially since the group has taken responsibility and decided not to print a fall issue.
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