Dozens of students outraged over The Hoya’s annual April Fools’ issue – which they said contained numerous insensitive and racially inflammatory articles – staged a sit-in at The Hoya’s office last night after convening earlier at a town hall meeting held in the Intercultural Center.

The sit-in began at 11:30 p.m., on The Hoya’s production night, when approximately 60 students filed into the office and sat calmly and quietly on floors and couches throughout the office. Numerous students documented the event with photographs and videos. The students sat in protest until midnight, at which point the president of the Georgetown chapter of the NAACP, Alessandra Brown (MSB `09), held up the April Fools’ issue, which she had highlighted to demonstrate several of the articles she found offensive, and briefly expressed her anger in an address to The Hoya’s staff. The students then walked out, remaining largely silent.

Editor in Chief Andrew Dwulet (COL ’10) offered on several occasions to speak with students about their concerns, but they declined. After several minutes in the office, at least two DPS officers arrived and remained throughout the sit-in, while attempting to ease the tension. Several Hoya staff members were visibly roused during the sit-in, but the staff generally continued with production of today’s issue.

Prior to the sit-in, approximately 125 students and administrators gathered in ICC 103 to discuss their concerns with the April Fools’ issue. The meeting, which was closed to the press, was announced through an event on Facebook. At the meeting, the students signed a petition describing how to best move forward, according to the Facebook page announcing the event.

Another Facebook group, entitled “The Hoya’s: Discrimination is Not a Laughing Matter,” had 252 members as of 2 a.m. this morning. The group mentioned the following articles from the April Fools’ issue as examples of The Hoya’s bias: “Is `Georgetown’ a Synonym for `Diversity?’ Hell Yeah!”; “We Need More Interracial Loving”; “Georgetown Ruined My Life”; “DPS Plotter: Saturday March 28”; “Russell, Inc. CEO – Slavemaster”; “Brown to the Virgin Mother: Gimme That . Or Else”; “Thompson III to Take Pop’s Advice Next Year.”

Numerous students and a few alumni expressed their disappointment and frustration through posts on the Facebook group and event pages.

“I am disgusted by these articles. This sort of blatantly racist writing is simply inexcusable,” former GUSA President Pat Dowd (SFS ’09) said. “The entire staff of The Hoya needs to be held responsible because they failed to prevent this extremely offensive content from being published in the first place.”

Lauren Reese (COL ’12) said that she could not believe that students at one of the top universities in the country had the audacity to publish these articles.

“As a biracial student who is part of the LGBTQ community, it is fair to say I was pretty . pissed,” she said. “The April Fools’ article in The Hoya is just perpetuating discrimination on campus and contradicting GU’s presentation of itself as [an] inclusive community. It’s a shame.”

any students, however, said they were not particularly offended by the issue.

“[You all have to] lighten up a bit. It was pretty clear they were being facetious. Life’s too short,” Justin Moore (MSB ’09) said on the Facebook page announcing the town hall meeting.

“I was a little surprised, but I don’t think the uproar was warranted. I think a little more restraint might have made sense and I don’t think I would have been comfortable publishing some of this stuff if I were an editor,” Radha Subramaniam (SFS ’12) said to a reporter. “But I do think people reacted too strongly because it was clearly meant as a joke without any real bad intent.”

GUSA President Calen Angert (MSB ’11), who was present at the sit-in, said after the sit-in that he was offended on both a personal and institutional level.

“I’m straight up appalled. GUSA as a whole is taking a stand that this is not acceptable,” he said. “Some of the articles were blatantly racist. There needs to be some recognition that that’s not OK. I was there because I wanted that sentiment to be fulfilled.”

Shruti Dusaj (SFS ’11), co-chair of GU Pride, said that she felt the issue was offensive to women and to members of the LGBTQ community, citing specifically the article “We Need More Interracial Loving.”

“It made light of issues that so many people feel concerned about – things that are identified as real problems. . That was the one thing that struck out as offensive,” she said. “I really don’t think that humor should be at the expense of other people’s dignity and their hard work.”

Dwulet said that the response to the issue has further highlighted the need for interracial interaction across campus. In a Letter from the Editor published in this issue, he apologized for much of the content in the paper’s April Fools’ edition.

“I saw how much this meant to so many students who came to our office last night. The demonstration only reinforced how much we need to engage in this dialogue with students,” he said to a reporter.

Dwulet said he hopes that The Hoya will work in the future with the community to improve the situation.

“We have seen first-hand the pain that we have caused to members of our community, and I deeply regret this,” he said. “The  Hoya must play an active role in bringing our campus together, not driving students apart.”

This is not the first time reporting at The Hoya has sparked tensions over racial issues in the community. After an on-campus protest for the Jena Six – six black teenagers who were charged with attempted murder after attacking a white classmate at a high school in Jena, La., which had recently been the site of a noose hanging – received minimal coverage in The Hoya in 2007 many students responded angrily to what they felt was a lack of coverage. Pages of The Hoya were covered with the phrase “The Hoya is racist” and a rock was thrown through then-Editor in Chief Max Sarinsky’s (COL ’09) apartment window.

Dwulet said these are crucial issues that need to be addressed and that in the coming days The Hoya plans to reach out to student groups and foster productive dialogue.

Student Commission for Unity Chair Brian Kesten (COL ’10), who attended the sit-in, declined to comment. Brown could not be reached for comment.

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