Editor In Trouble Over Telephone Sex Joke

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.--The editor of the campus newspaper at North Adams State College said this week that he is ignoring a plea by the Student Government Association to fire him in the wake of an April Fool's Day issue that depicted the school's president running a telephone sex service.

"It's business as usual," said senior Thomas Auclair of Southbridge in a telephone interview from the offices of The Beacon, where he was putting out this week's edition.

"The student government can't impeach an editor just because it doesn't like what the paper says. There are protections under the First Amendment of the Constitution," he said.

The association voted Tuesday to fire Auclair because of the satirical insert in the April Fool's issue of the paper. The student senators conducted the vote by closed ballot because several of them said they feared retaliation if they made their positions public.

The motion described the spoof as a misuse of student activities money. It also accused Auclair of dereliction of his duties because he "allowed the publication of materials in the paper's April Fool's edition that were sexually offensive, obscene and damaging to the reputations of individuals and North Adams State College."

Auclair called the secret vote a "spineless, wishy-washy move." He said college President Catherine A. Tissinger is also unhappy with him, "but at least she can tell me why she is mad."

Student Government President Thomas Kaczynski of Lynn maintained the organization's own constitution gave it the power to remove "any officer" for dereliction of duty. He said the student senators may consider cutting funding to the newspaper at their Monday meeting if Auclair continues his refusal to leave.

The student government provides about half of the newspaper's financing with the remainder coming from the English Department, Auclair and Kaczynski said.

"We are not infringing on his rights," Kaczynski said. "We didn't set up a committee to review what they could print beforehand. We're not trying to censor him. We just want to protect the campus from obscenity and poor taste."

He said student senators have received mixed reactions to the firing. The student government launched its investigation after receiving "a lot of telephone calls and some letters" complaining about the spoof, he said.

The college president, who has said she was "dismayed and outraged" over the spoof, was at a conference to celebrate National Secretaries Week and could not be reached for comment, her office said. "I don't believe she would comment at this point," said her assistant, Stephan Long.

Robert Maust, vice president for student affairs, said Auclair has told him that he plans to appeal his dismissal to the administration. Once the appeal is received in writing the ouster will be stayed pending a decision, Maust said.

Auclair said his only regret about the eight-page parody was "putting the president's extension number on the phone sex ad. Other than that, I'd print it verbatim tomorrow."