Chico censors newspaper hazing story
 

July 12, 2005 - 9:12:10 AM PST

Chico newspaper drops story after CSUC objects


AP

CHICO A local weekly newspaper blinked last week in a confrontation with Chico State University over a scathing article about the school's animal-house reputation.

The Chico News & Review yanked the article The Party Rules" when the university withdrew the paper's advertiser-heavy city guide from its student orientation packets. The paper replaced the article with a welcome address from the university president.

The article dropped from the guide, Goin' Chico," refers to several incidents including last year's alleged hazing death of a student and the filming of a frathouse porn video that have added to Chico's growing reputation as a notorious party school.

You've selected a school known more for its collective booze intake than for its contributions to academic achievement," the article crows. So have fun, kiddies ... and try not to die."

University officials argued that the article could damage the school's image, and promptly pulled the guide from its orientation packets, which are distributed to prospective students and their parents and contain information on city and college services.

But the newspaper had promised advertisers that the guide would be distributed in the orientation packets, said News & Review editor Tom Gascoyne.

So the newspaper and the school came to an agreement: replace the disputed article with a welcome address, and the issues would be returned to the packets.

We came to an agreement because we want to get these things distributed," Gascoyne said. We promised our advertisers that they were going out in the packets. We want to make good with that."

The article is still available in copies of the guide that aren't included in the orientation packets and on the News & Review's Web site.


Information from: Chico Enterprise-Record

A sound business decision but a journalism cop out.

A Weekly News Paper is the pot stirring Paper?:(

DeltAlum, not sure if one can call it a cop out.

It seems that they dispareging Like the Big Time Tabuloids or want to be's.

Maybe it is time for Chico to get Their Stuff together and not using Greeks as a Punching Bag as much as they may need it.:rolleyes:

Sounds like a Major Meeting with All Greek Organizations for a sit down and say "This is Where it stops", In or Out. Clean it up.

It would do all Greeks Good!

You've got to be kidding. They outright libel the school, they're called on it and that's a copout? I don't think so.

Although quite frankly, I don't know why the school would have any sort of association with a free newsweekly in the first place - if it's anything like ours, there are things in there that if I was a parent I would not want my 18 year old to see (like the zillion ads for phone sex lines).

Does Chico have a regular newspaper?

Pretty tough to prove libel in any case. Harder still when the reputation is widespread -- and there have been numerous, highly publicized events that have already tarnished the school's reputation.

My point is simply that from a journalistic standpoint, most legitimate media would have stood behind their reportage and not caved into financial pressure from the subject of their story. That's why it's a copout.

They chose to kill their story and run a fluff piece from the subject of their original article.

As I said, a sound business decision -- but one very few journalists would make.

Re: Chico censors newspaper hazing story
 

That's not libelous??? Intimating that just attending the school puts them in danger?? At the very least, it should convince the school not to have anything to do with them ever again.

And again, this is a free newsweekly, not a regular daily newspaper. Yes I read them, but they're certainly not what I would call journalistically sound or unbiased.

Re: Re: Chico censors newspaper hazing story
 

"The article dropped from the guide, Goin' Chico," refers to several incidents including last year's alleged hazing death of a student and the filming of a frathouse porn video that have added to Chico's growing reputation as a notorious party school."

Which part of that or what you quoted is wrong?

Need the GC lawyers here, but I think to win a libel case the school would have to prove that what was reported was wrong, that the paper knew it was wrong and reported it anyway and that they intended to damage the school and/or its reputation.

Again, given the recent history, I don't think that case would be won.

I will add, though, that the topic of the thread is wrong. Chico didn't, and can't, censor this newspaper. What they did was use their economic clout in the town to force the paper not to run the article. That's not censorship.

Re: Re: Re: Chico censors newspaper hazing story
 

Umm, I would say that telling prospective students "try not to die" is pretty well over the line.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Chico censors newspaper hazing story
 

But it's not libel as I understand it. They aren't accusing the university of killing students. In fact, at least one student died in the "alleged" hazing incident.

Besides, I'm not defending the newspaper, but rather saying that they were willing to give up their "journalistic" integrity -- whatever amount they may have, if any -- for financial reasons.

That's the reason that in some large news organizations, sales people aren't even allowed in the newsroom.

First of all....thanks Tom Earp...we already had many of those kinds of meetings where the greeks say "ok this is it". Hehe. But thanks for pointing out the obvious.

I am glad this turned out the way it has, and find it pretty ironic the way some of the chico locals view Chico state and it's students. Without the university, Chico would just be another small cowtown on the map, blending in with all the other cowtowns nearby. But because of the school and all the people it brings in from all over the state (country, world...), the city makes more money and has a more diverse population then it ever would. It allows Chico to have the thriving and often cultural downtown that it does, and provide much assistance to the more "needy" of the Chico folk (children, elderly, disabled, etc...) because of programs the school funds and the student volunteers it provides.

But they don't stop to think about it. Those people working at CN&R might not even have those jobs. I doubt that paper would exist without the university. And i know what many of you are thinking... "well the city would be fine without a greek system"... and that may be true but I like to think that we help the community a lot more than we are hurting it, even with all the events as of late. We volunteer and donate and fundraise most of the time... if anything during the year the parties (which are not ONLY thrown by greeks) can be a nuisance, and the bad publicity is also just that - a nuisance. Why does Chico care what the world thinks of its little town anyway? What is the bad publicity stopping them from getting? I don't know. I just wish they would stop to think about those things before they want to scare the already nervous freshman coming to their FINE city. :rolleyes:

FYI...

"That all changed in 1964 when the Supreme Court issued a ruling that revolutionized libel law in the United States. The famous decision in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan once and for all created a national rule that squared more fully with the free press guarantees of the First Amendment. In its ruling, the Court decided that public officials no longer could sue successfully for libel unless reporters or editors were guilty of "actual malice" when publishing false statements about them.

And just what is malice when it comes to proving libel? Retired Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. (a Delt, BTW), who wrote the Sullivan decision, defined it as "knowledge that the [published information] was false" or that it was published "with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not." In other words, public officials no longer could sue for libel simply by proving that something that had been broadcast or printed about them was false. Now they would have to prove that a journalist had knowingly printed false information while making little, if any, attempt to distinguish truth from lies."

The rest of the article can be found here:

http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/press/press08.htm

Another thing that I think I remember from my days in the newsrooms is that only a person can be libeled, not an institution such as a university. I may be wrong about that.

Yep, DeltAlum, you have the right standard and definition of libel. There was nothing said that was libelous. "Try not to die" is not a defamatory statement. It would be VERY VERY hard case to prove in court. Some people may think it's in very poor taste, but they have every right to say it.

This wouldn't be the first time a newspaper copped out of something in interest of their business.

chico seems to have a major public relations problem as well as internal issues that are bigger than an ad supplement.

Sad, but true.

I've heard of a number of cases, mostly having to do with automobile dealers who are big advertisers, trying to get stories about problems with their cars or their service or other practices, going to sales departments at newspapers, radio or TV stations and trying (sometimes successfully, but not often, thankfully) and trying to get a story dropped or changed.

That's why my comment above about sales people not being allowed (literally) in the newsroom in some places.

When I was at Chico, the paper mentioned, Chico News & Review had more readers than the daily paper, Chico Enterprise Record.

Chico has ALWAYS had a problem with the party image. Appearing in the #1 and #2 spots on Playboy's 1987 and 2002 "Party School List" certainly does not help matters.

Also, there was a lot of bad press after the Pioneer Days and Rancho Chico Days riots.

Chico is a small town in the middle of farming country. If it wasn't for the school, there wouldn't be much to that town. It has great college town atmosphere.

The Dean's hard line on the greek system since Matthew Carrington's death. Though other schools have had deaths and major hazing issues before, this is fairly new to Chico State.

Perception about partying at the school (well, and the actual partying) have long been an issue at the school. The events of last year give Zingg, the dean, a group to focus on. (I absolutely agree with the steps he is taking. I thought hazing was bad when I was at Chico but, no one lost their life)

I am surprised how much discussion occurs on this board about a small CA state school with a small greek system.

I'm surprised about how many times we've had to hear about hazing, deaths, and other bad things coming out of this particular small CA state school with a small greek system.

If things didn't happen there, we wouldn't be talking about them. But everytime we turn around there's Chico this, Chico that.

Nope. Chico's in the news constantly for negative things. You can't deny that. Sorry, I know you love your school, but it's been a greek system PR nightmare.

If Chico straightens itself out, then we won't have anything to talk about.

Until then, most of us don't believe in sweeping stuff under the rug.

So instead of telling me to "cut it out with that crap", maybe you should cut it out with your denial that there have been MAJOR issues at Chico.

It is not that there has been another incident. This thread is about an article about Chico State students.

This article is about the partying at the school not focusing on the greek system. Also, it does not come out until August.

And, constantly? Really?

Unfortunately, Chico is not the first school to have a student die from hazing. The fact that the dean is very motivated to make major changes and is very vocal is not a bad thing.
But, I have seen bad behavior tolerated for years at other schools. This is not the case at Chico.

I think the houses are taking reform seriously. My initial post in this thread was my surprise at the Anti-Chico attitude that seems to be present on this board.

I don't mean to be rude, but LittleGirl and Bubbles, you come off sounding kind of flip about the death. I'm sure you don't mean to, but a kid died...

One other thing. I know the greeks at Chico give back to the town through philanthropy, but just as a reminder, one death can erase 50 years of good deeds...

I was not being flip about Matthew's death. It awful what happened to Matthew. I am shocked that my comments could be construed in that light.

I would never want his family and friends to be hurt by my comments.

gotta ditto that

I think you are not understanding my posts and are way off the mark.

Because I have a few minutes while my dinner is cooking, here's just a quick list of incidents that have happened at Chico in recent memory that have been posted about on here:

Sigma Chi hazing near- death of Richard Amador: http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...ighlight=chico

Chi Tau hazing death of Michael Carrington:
http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...ighlight=chico

Pi Beta Phi closed for hazing/alchol:
http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...ighlight=chico

Phi Kappa Tau porn:
http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...ighlight=chico

Pi Kappa Phi hazing:
http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...ighlight=chico

And that's just what a quick search of the Risk Management forum for threads with Chico in them, these are the relevant ones.

Edited to fix typos

LittleGirl, it is not off of the Mark, but the many reports of problems that come out of this single School. They as a School are Having Problems as many do and there is not a Member of GC and Any GLO that do not abhor it.

First, it makes us all as Greeks look bad, and the majority of people who hear about it go WTF? Is this what Our Young People are doing.

If you look at the number of Greeks across the Country USA and Canada it is a small number compared to the actual School Population.

But each time it is a Greek Name Tagged to It, We all look badly in the eyes of not only the Media but the Parents who may have their children attending any School.:(

just an FYI...

The News & Review is a weekly free newspaper that people can pick up. It is known as the "liberal" newspaper in town. Their circulation numbers are higher because they don't have a paid circulation.

The Chico Enterprise-Record is the daily paper with about 35,000 paid circulation. It is a very conservative paper - I know because I worked there for 3 years. During that time, I was the one who typeset the obituaries for the greek deaths. Experiencing the grief of those families is something I will never forget.

I can see both sides of the argument here, but I know the remaining Greeks & the University Administration are working diligently to make a positive change. All the Greeks have met for several "sit-downs" with the Greek Task Force in the Spring & in the process of completing several "tiers" of requirements in the upcoming years. More info is at http://www.csuchico.edu/sa/greekreport/

I apologize for typos, sorry that i don't have all day to go through and post everything. If someone wants to know, a search is easily done.

Hazing, alcohol violations, it all winds up in the news and makes us ALL look bad.


This is the Risk Management forum, for discussion of all things Risk-Management related. Regardless of what you think of your school, these incidents reflect poorly upon all of us as a Greek community. We have every right to discuss it. If you don't want to hear the criticism, don't visit the forum. As I said, we have every right to discuss Chico.

If I was the president or director of student life, i'd likely want to close the greek system there as a whole. It's a huge liability for the school, and has been an immense PR nightmare. I guess I'd also do a major overhaul and study of Chico's image and why it attracts students who choose to live this lifestyle and bring down the school, and what can be done to change that. But that's just me.

I applaud the school for even trying to work it out, good for them. Most schools wouldn't have such patience

Agree with you totally. I would've pull the plug a long time ago.

Well, maybe In Deffernce to the Chico Squad they can really tell us what the real problem is other than it is a party school.

So, Whose fault is that? The Schools or the Students or Just Greeks?

It really sounds like a Major Problen to be sure.

I am glad that The Greek System and The School are working together to get thier problems straightened out.:)

But from the sounds of some of You Chico Students, it is a total Problem there.

Compare to Colo. Un. and Their Greek and Athletic Program.

It starts with The Adm., not the Students. It sounds like the ADM. just let Shit Run Wild until it was out of hand.:rolleyes:

Hell, If I was a Parent, and read all of this stuff, I would have Big Second Thoughts about having My Child attend school there.

It has no bearing on what Paper said what, it did happen didnt it?:(

Alcohol violations are often due to underage drinking. In many sororities, providing alcohol to underage members is construed as hazing. Also, it doesn't matter. RISK MANAGEMENT is as risk management does. These are all still behaviors that endanger Chico students and make other Greeks, whether local, national, NPC, NIC, NPHC, multicultural, etc... look the same. When one of us screws up, WE ALL LOSE.

...

And this is considered "okay and accepatable behavior? Later on in your post you ask what we would do in your shoes-- stop binge drinking and educate the student population on binge drinking. Increase risk management practices and take the damn drink out of Tommy's hand after his Nth shot of jaeger!


It doesn't matter. Chi Tau is a Greek Lettered club. This makes it look Greek. The vast majority of the US are not GLO members and they don't care if this was a national, a local or an underground renegade society. "IT'S ALL GREEK" to them.

Take accountability. Stop binge drinking. Respect one another and know that your membership in your GLO isn't one founded on beating one another with paddles and sisterhood isn't formed by drinking one another under the table. Institute a series of interactive co-sponsored membership education trainings where you teach one another about hazing, alcohol, drugs and the consequences, and where you have an open and honest dialogue about what is happening at your university and what you as GREEKS (local, national and underground or aboveground!) can do to stop it.

If I were any of those people, I would set forth a series of ultimatums, make the campus dry and set a zero-tolerance policy for hazing and alcohol abuse-- you're caught and you're expelled. Period.

And although it's not my place as an ADPi to say this and even though I adore the Chico ADPi's I have met, if I had the power, I'd pull ADPi out of Chico. I don't want my letters represented at a school where the students treat each other this way, and I don't want my sisters exposed to this kind of behavior. I'd want to protect my sisters.

They have been stripped of their university and national recognition. The real Greeks will have nothing to do with them. This has been stated over and over again. What on earth else are they supposed to do, blow up their house with them in it?

I feel the need to say this to you VERY clearly.

It is NOT normal for a college to send, as you are saying, 6 people a week to the hospital for alcohol related illness. It is NOT healthy or conducive to educational advancement for students to be drinking in such and unhealthy way.

Because you asked for my opinion. :D
I would close the Greek system down entirely. I agree with adpiucf that I would not want my letters anywhere near Chico for the safety of both my sisters and the national organization. As a university I would also put pressure on bar owners, liquor stores and the local police department to help ensure that everything we being done to prevent underage drinking. If that means having to use two forms of ID, or scan every drivers license, or do random check points, I would do it. I think it is time for the city to crack down. Right now it sounds like, 'Hey welcome to Chico, a nice place except for 11pm-3am on Thurs through Saturday. Please don't hit the drunk college kids.' That cannot be helping the city prosper....

Anyhow, more people will continue to get hurt until drastic changes are made. You think being Greek is not going to be fun because of the changes. I question what types of events are going on at Chico.

Just to give you some more numbers, a semester is what 16 weeks? so you are in college for 32 weeks per year (give or take) You are saying that 6 people per week go to the hospital, so that is a grand total of 192 people being hospitalized. Then you add drinking holidays. Halloween (1day), Superbowl (1day), St. Paddy's (1day), Finals (1 week), Mid-terms (2? days), Greek week, spring break (5 days). So roughly add another 20 drinking holidays. (which do not include birthdays, 21st birthdays, break-ups and any other holidays) Another 20 days, at 2 people per day being hospitalized, you end up with around 232 people per year being hospitalized. (give or take some numbers)

And you want us to cut you some slack?

I'm getting off of my soapbox, but your campus has a lot of work to do. I honestly wish you the best of luck and don't envy the amount of work. I think you will find it all easier to manage once the entire community commits themselves to changing the culture that has permeated that campus. Best of luck.

edited for clarity

It's irrelevant-- the outside world doesn't give a damn whether this group was a "real" Greek Lettered Organization in the sense that "legitimate" Greek societies designate. And the outside world is keeping up with the war on Terror, missing teens in Aruba, nonfat lattes at Starbucks, their own lives and primetime TV. They're not going to hone in on the small details of whether a fraternity hazing death was committed by a "national" group on campus by the grace of God and the university administration... they just see "fraternity" "hazing." The perception still comes back to haunt all of us.

"They're" not supposed to do anything-- but the university, the community, the bars, the police, the national groups and the local students and their parents need to take accountability and set a measurable probation (which they are doing) to turn the students around, and crack down on the absurd norms that have developed at this campus (IE: sending 2 people to the hospital each week due to alcohol poisoning).

Exactly...they've set goals and are going to work towards them, so why keep harping on something they can't change and let them try to go forward?

If there was a rogue ADPi chapter out there calling itself Alpha Pi that did all manner of unmentionable things, your EO and the school had already done all they could to discipline them and people still kept throwing it in your face, how would that make you feel?

Chico State Requires Alcohol Abuse Prevention Course
News10.net
KXTV

I hope I'm being cynical and that these online alcohol courses really do some good.

But every time I hear about something like this, all I can think of is the episode of WKRP where they were doing an on-air reflex test to show the dangers of overimbibing and Johnny Fever's reflexes got better and quicker with each additional drink.