University Moves to End Anti-israel, Anti-zionist Diatribes in Campus Paper

Wayne State University has announced that it will revise the membership of the publication board of the student newspaper South End which has come under severe censure by university president Dr. Gegrge E. Gullen and the eight-member board of governors for its consistently anti-Israel, anti-Zionist editorial policies, it was reported today by Philip Slomovitz, editor of the Jewish News of Detroit

The university newspaper, financed with state funds, was rebuked last month for publishing an extreme anti-Israel article by a local Unitarian minister and illustrating it with a swastika superimposed on a Star of David. The editors apologized for the Juxtaposition but claimed they were Justified in taking an anti-Israel stand and accused the university of trying to silence the paper.

Dr. Gullen gave assurances, in a statement last Friday, that the publication of South End will not be suspended. However, he charged that “irresponsibility has become something of a habit” on the part of the South End staff. He said the revision of the publication board constituted corrective action to prevent present and future irresponsibility and to ease the tensions aroused on the campus and in the local community by South End’s militant anti-Israel line.

The student publication board is presently composed of five students, including Gene Cunningham who is the student editor and three faculty members including a technical advisor. The technical advisor and editor are ex-officio members. The revised board, which is expected to take over before the end of the month, will be composed of seven students, a university dean, a faculty member from the department of Journalism, a student personnel advisor, and an information services advisor. It will also include the two ex-officio members of the present board. Cunningham, who refused a university request for his resignation, is expected to remain editor.