2008 Woodie Awards
"Anti-Semitic" cartoon causes outrage on Arizona campus
Josh Shannon
Issue date: 10/19/07 Section: News
A cartoon that appeared in the University of Arizona's campus newspaper has sparked controversy and led some to label its creator an anti-Semite.
The drawing by UA senior Joey Topmiller, which was published Oct. 9 in the Arizona Daily Wildcat, depicted a credit card receipt from a restaurant bill showing the name "Mark Goldfarb" and dollar amounts suggesting the customer left an unusually low tip.
The bottom of the cartoon read, "Attention all crappy tipping Jews!!! Just because you're 'screwing' the server…does not mean that it's a mitzvah."
A "mitzvah" is defined in Hebrew as a good deed.
In a statement published the day after the cartoon ran, the editor in chief of the Daily Wildcat, Allison Hornick, apologized to readers who were offended.
"We understand the comic was taken with offense; however, it did not set out to offend at any level, and the comic in no way represents the views of the Arizona Daily Wildcat as a newspaper," Hornick wrote. "The Daily Wildcat apologizes for the misunderstanding over the comic and does not, in any way, wish to belittle the Jewish community or depict it negatively."
Hornick declined to be interviewed and would not say if any punitive action was taken against Topmiller. As of Wednesday, the newspaper was still publishing his cartoons.
The cartoon outraged many UA students and staff, provoking a flurry of letters which were sent to the Daily Wildcat.
UA seniors Rob Lattin and Jeremy Reitman, who are both Jewish, started a petition drive against the cartoon - they currently have more than 1,200 signatures.
Addressed to UA President Robert Shelton, Lattin and Reitman's petition calls for diversity training for the Daily Wildcat staff and also asks that such training be made part of the regular training for future staffers.
"We knew we couldn't just stand on the sidelines and do nothing," Reitman said.
Shelton could not be reached for comment, but in a letter published in the Daily Wildcat, he criticized the cartoon.
"I am deeply disappointed that this would appear in the Wildcat, and strongly condemn the prejudice that it represents," Shelton wrote. "It is simply out of place at our university."
The Daily Wildcat is an independent newspaper, meaning its content is not controlled by the university and UA cannot sanction it, Weid said.
Lattin and Reitman both called Hornick's apology inadequate.
"The apology was pathetic," Lattin said. "Instead of an apology, it was a defense of the cartoonist."
Reitman said he was surprised that such a comic would run in the paper.
"I can't believe that such blatant anti-Semitism and discrimination could take place on a campus of higher education," Reitman said.
Lattin said the cartoon depicts the stereotype of Jews being cheap. The use of the word "screwing" alludes to the stereotype of Jews as being overly promiscuous, Lattin said.
"They are exploiting an untrue stereotype, and it was just a way to take a cheap shot at the Jewish people," he said.
"A large percentage of the university is Jewish - some call it 'Jew of A' for slang," Lattin said. "The paper wasn't being sensitive to its readers."
UA's student body is approximately 10 percent Jewish, putting it in the top 15 of public universities with a high Jewish population, according to Michelle Blumenberg, the executive director of Hillel at UA.
Last week, Reitman, along with Blumenberg and two others, met with the Daily Wildcat staff to express their concerns.
"It was a good opportunity to discuss in a quiet atmosphere what had happened," Blumenberg said.
After the meeting, the Daily Wildcat staff published a second apology Monday.
"Once in a while, [...] we manage to really mess things up," the paper wrote in a staff editorial. "Publishing the cartoon was a mistake and failing to recognize the offense it would cause was an error in judgment."
Reitman credited his meeting with the staff for "sparking a real apology," which he called "adequate."
However, he said, the staff should still undergo diversity training, an idea he said the staff was not receptive to at the meeting.
"They weren't aware of what they were doing because they weren't informed. That is why we are pushing for this training," Reitman said.
Steve Weid, a cartoonist for the Daily Wildcat, said the cartoon has been the subject of much discussion on the UA campus and has been brought up in many classes. He said opinions about the cartoon are evenly mixed.
Some students said it was simply Topmiller's sense of humor, not ignorance or anti-Semitism, that was responsible for the cartoon.
"Anyone with a sense of humor knows it was supposed to be funny," UA sophomore Justin Lee said.
The cartoon did not appear to be based on hatred, Lee said.
"If anything, he was trying to stir up controversy to get more attention for the comic, which is a good strategy," he said.
Lee said people who were offended by the cartoon should have spoke up when Topmiller's cartoon jabbed at other groups.
"They seemed fine with that until the comic started taking on their race," he said.
Travis Tinney, a Daily Wildcat cartoonist, said he doesn't think Topmiller is anti-Semitic.
"He's a nice guy - I've talked to him on several occasions," Tinney said. "He's really polite and he's offered me some help."
He said he found the cartoon offensive but does not believe Topmiller intended it to be viewed that way.
Topmiller's cartoon series, titled "No Relation," is no stranger to controversy. Many of his other cartoons take stabs at other groups.
One read, "Gay: the new black." Another read, "Moron: if you squint, it looks like it says Mormon."
In September, Topmiller was suspended from the paper because of his previous cartoons, both Tinney and Weid said. After readers complained, he was reinstated.
Topmiller could not be reached for comment.
Many of Topmiller's supporters point to his previous cartoons as proof that he is an equal opportunity offender and did not specifically single out Jews.
"He tries to do more racy comics," Tinney said. "That was not his first comic that could be considered offensive."
In her statement, Hornick wrote that Topmiller's cartoon was intended to poke fun at people who are anti-Semitic, not to be anti-Semitic itself.
"On a regular basis, the comic attempts to take common stereotypes and misconceptions and mock not only the stereotype itself, but also the people who believe in them," she wrote.
Weid said that the hardest part of cartooning is finding the right balance between being funny and being offensive.
"It's a very precise skill," he said. "[A cartoon] could easily be the funniest joke in the world or it could be the most offensive thing in the world."
Lattin said he blames the paper's editorial staff, not Topmiller, for the incident.
"My concern is not with Topmiller - he's a bottom-feeder," he said. "My concern is with the people who allowed this to the printed, the people who are supposed to be making rational decisions."
Ben Yagoda, the chairman of the journalism department at the University of Delaware, said he agreed that the editors are to blame.
"Anyone can draw or write anything, but when you're the editor of a paper, you have the responsibility of what goes into the paper," Yagoda said.
He said that the cartoon violated journalistic ethics.
"Something that is needlessly offensive and invokes terrible religious stereotypes is not what a responsible journalistic enterprise should be doing," Yagoda said.
Weid said that the Daily Wildcat's cartoonists, who are paid, submit a week's worth of cartoons each Sunday, and then the cartoons go through an editing process.
He and other cartoonists have had cartoons rejected before, mostly because of offensive language. He said that is why he was surprised that Topmiller's cartoon made it into the paper.
"They would censor us for saying 'dick,' but they wouldn't censor him when he attacked an entire religious group."
Nevertheless, he said he blames Topmiller for the controversy.
"It's all Topmiller," Weid said. "He started all this and then everything just went to hell."
Weid described Hornick as a good editor who worked her way up through the ranks to editor in chief.
"For anyone new in this situation and something like this comes up, it has got to be scary," he said.
Tinney also voiced support for Hornick.
"She was in a difficult position," he said. "It's hard to do anything perfect when you're under that kind of pressure."
The drawing by UA senior Joey Topmiller, which was published Oct. 9 in the Arizona Daily Wildcat, depicted a credit card receipt from a restaurant bill showing the name "Mark Goldfarb" and dollar amounts suggesting the customer left an unusually low tip.
The bottom of the cartoon read, "Attention all crappy tipping Jews!!! Just because you're 'screwing' the server…does not mean that it's a mitzvah."
A "mitzvah" is defined in Hebrew as a good deed.
In a statement published the day after the cartoon ran, the editor in chief of the Daily Wildcat, Allison Hornick, apologized to readers who were offended.
"We understand the comic was taken with offense; however, it did not set out to offend at any level, and the comic in no way represents the views of the Arizona Daily Wildcat as a newspaper," Hornick wrote. "The Daily Wildcat apologizes for the misunderstanding over the comic and does not, in any way, wish to belittle the Jewish community or depict it negatively."
Hornick declined to be interviewed and would not say if any punitive action was taken against Topmiller. As of Wednesday, the newspaper was still publishing his cartoons.
The cartoon outraged many UA students and staff, provoking a flurry of letters which were sent to the Daily Wildcat.
UA seniors Rob Lattin and Jeremy Reitman, who are both Jewish, started a petition drive against the cartoon - they currently have more than 1,200 signatures.
Addressed to UA President Robert Shelton, Lattin and Reitman's petition calls for diversity training for the Daily Wildcat staff and also asks that such training be made part of the regular training for future staffers.
"We knew we couldn't just stand on the sidelines and do nothing," Reitman said.
Shelton could not be reached for comment, but in a letter published in the Daily Wildcat, he criticized the cartoon.
"I am deeply disappointed that this would appear in the Wildcat, and strongly condemn the prejudice that it represents," Shelton wrote. "It is simply out of place at our university."
The Daily Wildcat is an independent newspaper, meaning its content is not controlled by the university and UA cannot sanction it, Weid said.
Lattin and Reitman both called Hornick's apology inadequate.
"The apology was pathetic," Lattin said. "Instead of an apology, it was a defense of the cartoonist."
Reitman said he was surprised that such a comic would run in the paper.
"I can't believe that such blatant anti-Semitism and discrimination could take place on a campus of higher education," Reitman said.
Lattin said the cartoon depicts the stereotype of Jews being cheap. The use of the word "screwing" alludes to the stereotype of Jews as being overly promiscuous, Lattin said.
"They are exploiting an untrue stereotype, and it was just a way to take a cheap shot at the Jewish people," he said.
"A large percentage of the university is Jewish - some call it 'Jew of A' for slang," Lattin said. "The paper wasn't being sensitive to its readers."
UA's student body is approximately 10 percent Jewish, putting it in the top 15 of public universities with a high Jewish population, according to Michelle Blumenberg, the executive director of Hillel at UA.
Last week, Reitman, along with Blumenberg and two others, met with the Daily Wildcat staff to express their concerns.
"It was a good opportunity to discuss in a quiet atmosphere what had happened," Blumenberg said.
After the meeting, the Daily Wildcat staff published a second apology Monday.
"Once in a while, [...] we manage to really mess things up," the paper wrote in a staff editorial. "Publishing the cartoon was a mistake and failing to recognize the offense it would cause was an error in judgment."
Reitman credited his meeting with the staff for "sparking a real apology," which he called "adequate."
However, he said, the staff should still undergo diversity training, an idea he said the staff was not receptive to at the meeting.
"They weren't aware of what they were doing because they weren't informed. That is why we are pushing for this training," Reitman said.
Steve Weid, a cartoonist for the Daily Wildcat, said the cartoon has been the subject of much discussion on the UA campus and has been brought up in many classes. He said opinions about the cartoon are evenly mixed.
Some students said it was simply Topmiller's sense of humor, not ignorance or anti-Semitism, that was responsible for the cartoon.
"Anyone with a sense of humor knows it was supposed to be funny," UA sophomore Justin Lee said.
The cartoon did not appear to be based on hatred, Lee said.
"If anything, he was trying to stir up controversy to get more attention for the comic, which is a good strategy," he said.
Lee said people who were offended by the cartoon should have spoke up when Topmiller's cartoon jabbed at other groups.
"They seemed fine with that until the comic started taking on their race," he said.
Travis Tinney, a Daily Wildcat cartoonist, said he doesn't think Topmiller is anti-Semitic.
"He's a nice guy - I've talked to him on several occasions," Tinney said. "He's really polite and he's offered me some help."
He said he found the cartoon offensive but does not believe Topmiller intended it to be viewed that way.
Topmiller's cartoon series, titled "No Relation," is no stranger to controversy. Many of his other cartoons take stabs at other groups.
One read, "Gay: the new black." Another read, "Moron: if you squint, it looks like it says Mormon."
In September, Topmiller was suspended from the paper because of his previous cartoons, both Tinney and Weid said. After readers complained, he was reinstated.
Topmiller could not be reached for comment.
Many of Topmiller's supporters point to his previous cartoons as proof that he is an equal opportunity offender and did not specifically single out Jews.
"He tries to do more racy comics," Tinney said. "That was not his first comic that could be considered offensive."
In her statement, Hornick wrote that Topmiller's cartoon was intended to poke fun at people who are anti-Semitic, not to be anti-Semitic itself.
"On a regular basis, the comic attempts to take common stereotypes and misconceptions and mock not only the stereotype itself, but also the people who believe in them," she wrote.
Weid said that the hardest part of cartooning is finding the right balance between being funny and being offensive.
"It's a very precise skill," he said. "[A cartoon] could easily be the funniest joke in the world or it could be the most offensive thing in the world."
Lattin said he blames the paper's editorial staff, not Topmiller, for the incident.
"My concern is not with Topmiller - he's a bottom-feeder," he said. "My concern is with the people who allowed this to the printed, the people who are supposed to be making rational decisions."
Ben Yagoda, the chairman of the journalism department at the University of Delaware, said he agreed that the editors are to blame.
"Anyone can draw or write anything, but when you're the editor of a paper, you have the responsibility of what goes into the paper," Yagoda said.
He said that the cartoon violated journalistic ethics.
"Something that is needlessly offensive and invokes terrible religious stereotypes is not what a responsible journalistic enterprise should be doing," Yagoda said.
Weid said that the Daily Wildcat's cartoonists, who are paid, submit a week's worth of cartoons each Sunday, and then the cartoons go through an editing process.
He and other cartoonists have had cartoons rejected before, mostly because of offensive language. He said that is why he was surprised that Topmiller's cartoon made it into the paper.
"They would censor us for saying 'dick,' but they wouldn't censor him when he attacked an entire religious group."
Nevertheless, he said he blames Topmiller for the controversy.
"It's all Topmiller," Weid said. "He started all this and then everything just went to hell."
Weid described Hornick as a good editor who worked her way up through the ranks to editor in chief.
"For anyone new in this situation and something like this comes up, it has got to be scary," he said.
Tinney also voiced support for Hornick.
"She was in a difficult position," he said. "It's hard to do anything perfect when you're under that kind of pressure."
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 6
Bob Wilson
posted 10/19/07 @ 6:11 AM EST
Back in the days when I was doing the weekly "editorial" cartoon for THE REVIEW, I always tried to work within the framework of satirizing a college institution (more often than not, the Kent Dining Hall or the Library), event, or situation that I hoped would ring a bell with a majority of readers. (Continued…)
StevenG
_____
posted 10/19/07 @ 8:16 AM EST
can someone please provide a link to the picture, I am curious what it looks like, to spark even more debate
thanks
Ezra Temko
posted 10/19/07 @ 10:56 AM EST
Here is a link to the picture.
Ezra Temko
posted 10/19/07 @ 10:57 AM EST
http://bp2.blogger.com/_pLdB2mthnAw/RxTP2fY_BtI/AAAAAAAAAqo/a26bBtLEyk0/s1600-h/cartoon.jpg
Mechelle
posted 10/21/07 @ 10:26 AM EST
Ugh! How is that not supposed to offend anyone? They purposely called out a certain group of people. This Allison girl needs to wake up. You wouldn't make a comic calling out the whole African American community so what makes the Jewish community any different?
Marty Blithe
posted 11/03/07 @ 6:41 PM EST
Unbelievable, after all the diversity sensitivity training Americans have been through that such attitudes can still persist. It's certainly a hate crime to believe that any diversity group are bad tippers and should be dealt with - perhaps by microchipping such individuals and making them register as Diversity Offenders we could put an end to these brutish behaviors. (Continued…)
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