Bravo to the official student publication of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana for standing up for press freedom around the world.

The University of Illinois student newspaper Thursday published six caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that have sparked violent protests in the Middle East and Asia.

Nearly every major U.S. newspaper, including the Chicago Tribune, has not published the cartoons. They were first published in late September by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, and they were reprinted in other European publications in recent weeks.

While UN Secretary General Kofi Annan chastised newspapers Thursday that continue to publish the cartoons, Daily Illini editor-in-chief Acton Gorton said he decided to print them so students could better understand the Muslim response.

"All across this nation, editors are gripped in fear of printing ... for fear of the reaction. As a journalist, this flies in the face of everything I hold dear. By refusing to print these editorial cartoons, we are preventing an important issue from being debated by the public," Gorton wrote in a column next to the drawings.

It is a shame that a once-great newspaper like the Tribune is now reduced to cowering in fear while student publications and the internet do its job instead. And it is also a shame that the University administration for this expression of disapproval.

In a letter to the Daily Illini to be published Friday, U. of I. Chancellor Richard Herman wrote that he is "saddened" that the newspaper decided to publish the cartoons. He suggested that the editors could have informed the public by giving readers a Web link to the cartoons instead.

"I believe that the DI could have engaged its readers in legitimate debate about the issues surrounding the cartoons' publication in Denmark without publishing them," he wrote. "It is possible, for instance, to editorialize about pornography without publishing pornographic pictures."

And here I thought the University was all about widening the horizons of students, exposing them to diverse ideas on a variety of topics, opening their eyes to multiple perspectives, as well as training adults to function in an open and democratic society. I guess that U of I no longer performs those functions, and instead is a therapeutic resource for mental, emotional, and intellectual cripples who need to be shielded from influences that might upset or offend them, rather than provoking thought and discussion. And that Chancellor Herman doesn’t know the difference between pornography and social commentary is indicative of his lack of qualification for his position.

And then there is this gratuitous quote at the end.

U. of I. senior Ehav Yasin, a Muslim student from Carpentersville, said he was upset by the Daily Illini's decision.

So what? Who cares? Yasin’s emotional weakness is irrelevant to the decision of the Daily Illini to fully inform its readers about a major international story. It is clear that despite years of higher education, he really has learned nothing about the values that undergird the American republic. Hopefully he will mature during his senior year and become a functioning member of society – or, barring that, perhaps he will exercise his right to relocate to another country with values more in line with his own.

Here's a cache of the page.

UPFATE: Bravo to the Daily Tarheel at UNC for publishing its own cartoon.

Muslims opposed to the First Amendment are outraged.

The Muslim Students Association at the University of North Carolina on Friday asked the campus' student newspaper to apologize for publishing an original cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

"The intention of bigotry was clear," the association wrote in a letter to The Daily Tar Heel. "One must question the DTH's ethics in advancing a widely protested issue to cause a riot of their own. The MSA not only found this cartoon derogatory but is also shocked at the editor's allowance of its publication _ one that incites hate in the current political and social context."

Caricatures of Muhammad, including one that shows the prophet with a bomb-shaped turban, were published first in a Danish paper in September, then reprinted in European papers in recent weeks in the name of press freedom. Their publication has sparked violent protests in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.

The paper's editor strikes exactly the right position between sensitivity and journalistic integrity.

The cartoon published in The Daily Tar Heel Thursday was drawn by a cartoonist at the paper, Philip McFee. It shows Muhammad appearing to decry both Denmark's role in the controversy and the violence that has erupted since.

Daily Tar Heel editor Ryan Tuck said the newspaper wanted to challenge fellow students to think about the issue. He said while he has apologized personally to individuals who told him the cartoon offended, the newspaper will not apologize.

"The point of any cartoon in any newspaper is to challenge belief systems," Tuck said. "We knew it would offend, but that doesn't make it the explicit goal of the cartoon."

And as usual, a sensitivity fascist from the university administration has to criticize.

The Daily Tar Heel has a long history of journalistic independence, but university officials would hope that it would use restraint around a topic such as this one, which is hurtful and offensive to members of the campus community, said Margaret Jablonski, vice chancellor for student affairs at UNC-Chapel Hill.

"Many of our national media outlets chose not to publish the original pictures or cartoons and we believe our student paper should have used the same editorial judgement," Jablonski said.

I guess that the administration has forgotten that a university is a place to learn, to grow, and to have one's beliefs challenged. Isn't that what we conservaitives are always told?

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