NM College Allows Suspended Newspaper to Resume Publication
ByNew Mexico Community College has allowed its 18-year-old student-run newspaper, 'CNM Chronicle' to resume operations after it was suspended last week for publishing an in-depth issue focusing on sex.
In addition, the copies of the controversial edition were also returned to the students.
The university officials suspended the newspaper as the contents did not adhere to the college's mission.
The articles covered sexual orientation, shopping tips for sex toys, a guide to safe, sane and consensual bondage and S&M, a feature on abstinence, sexuality resources and favorite sexual positions.
Some of the articles featured are, 'How to Buy and Use the Right Toy' and 'Saying No: Why Some Choose Abstinence.'
The publication of this sex issue sparked outrage among the administrators and resulted in confiscation of all the copies of the issue.
CNM President Katharine Winograd told abc that the officials were originally concerned about the 12-page issue as it included a quote of a 17-year-old high school student in the abstinence feature.
They took the newspaper off the stands to check whether the student group followed all the necessary background checks and obtained legal clearance required to safely include information of a minor in a newspaper.
Later, the college issued a statement:
"CNM does not have a journalism program, which has limited the college's ability to provide the education and training that students need to appropriately operate a newspaper that is distributed to a student body of nearly 30,000. CNM is going to re-evaluate how students can be trained, educated and supervised in operating a widely disseminated student publication."
CNM Chronicle editor, Jyllian Roach, said that the sex issue was meant to be an educational tool. She said that the team did obtain the minor's parental consent to interview her for an abstinence story.
The newspaper team alleges that they followed the law and all ethical standards and did not move in any wrong direction.
Following this incident, the college plans to introduce a journalism program and train its students on how to run a newspaper.
The student-run newspaper is funded by the college and partially from students' fees.