Spring Break
Gravity will publish online
by Lital Shair
News | 9/11/07
Posted online at 8:11 PM EST on 9/10/07
/ Last updated at 2:46 AM EST on 9/10/07
Gravity Magazine, a campus humor publication, has announced plans to develop a Web magazine this semester rather than publish in hard copy. The magazine printed a racially charged, fake advertisement last April, which was met with strong rebuke from the Student Union and other campus groups.
Though the magazine pledged last May to take the semester off from printing and improve its editorial process, the staff decided to continue producing material online, at last Wednesday's meeting.
"If online is successful, we could probably take that momentum and bring it back to print," Editor in Chief Jonathan Zornow '08 said.
The controversial ad featured "BlackJerry"-a black man dressed in a zoot suit, which many students thought was a minstrel outfit, offering to drive clients to the airport-a play off the communications device, a BlackBerry.
Last May, two days after the ad's publication and subsequent meetings with Union officials, Gravity released a statement apologizing to the Brandeis community.
"There will not be a Fall '07 issue of Gravity," the statement said.
"[Gravity] will be using the coming semester to reform our publication and implement a more effective editorial hierarchy."
Speculating on how the campus will respond to Gravity's spring publication, Jonathan Rubinger '08, the author of the controversial ad, said: "We figure the campus has either lost interest or…that there will be a lot of publicity and people will be driven to pick up a copy."
Gravity staff also discussed possibly changing its name this year. Former Editor in Chief Ben Douglas '08 said a new name might make the publication easier to distribute on campus. Michael Werner '08 said, "If we change the name, we change the club."
On April 27 the Student Union passed a resolution condemning the magazine's "insensitive and disrespectful" advertisement. The resolution also said the Senate would consider dechartering the group in the fall. In addition, the Union proposed introducing "diversity training for Orientation Leaders, new students, campus publications, and other media" and a continued dialogue about diversity on campus.
Though the magazine pledged last May to take the semester off from printing and improve its editorial process, the staff decided to continue producing material online, at last Wednesday's meeting.
"If online is successful, we could probably take that momentum and bring it back to print," Editor in Chief Jonathan Zornow '08 said.
The controversial ad featured "BlackJerry"-a black man dressed in a zoot suit, which many students thought was a minstrel outfit, offering to drive clients to the airport-a play off the communications device, a BlackBerry.
Last May, two days after the ad's publication and subsequent meetings with Union officials, Gravity released a statement apologizing to the Brandeis community.
"There will not be a Fall '07 issue of Gravity," the statement said.
"[Gravity] will be using the coming semester to reform our publication and implement a more effective editorial hierarchy."
Speculating on how the campus will respond to Gravity's spring publication, Jonathan Rubinger '08, the author of the controversial ad, said: "We figure the campus has either lost interest or…that there will be a lot of publicity and people will be driven to pick up a copy."
Gravity staff also discussed possibly changing its name this year. Former Editor in Chief Ben Douglas '08 said a new name might make the publication easier to distribute on campus. Michael Werner '08 said, "If we change the name, we change the club."
On April 27 the Student Union passed a resolution condemning the magazine's "insensitive and disrespectful" advertisement. The resolution also said the Senate would consider dechartering the group in the fall. In addition, the Union proposed introducing "diversity training for Orientation Leaders, new students, campus publications, and other media" and a continued dialogue about diversity on campus.
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