Spoof issues and cartoons have caused problems for several newspapers this spring. An annual joke issue of the California Aggie in June at the University of California at Davis led to media coverage and questions about Fitz Vo’s status as editor.

Most controversial of the content was a photo of two campus egg-like sculptures with a phallic symbol digitally superimposed in the middle with children playing nearby, and a photo that shows a white student holding a knife while looking menacingly at a black student.

“I am sorry for the things that did cross the line of good taste,” Vo said. “We prefaced [the issue] by saying ‘nothing is real in this except the ads,’ but apparently that’s not enough.”

Newspapers across California covered the dispute. Vo said the intent of the issue was misinterpreted, leading to allegations that one photo was racist.

“The newspapers are really quick to point out this really big picture regarding a white student holding a knife and eyeing a black student. This is not the case of racism at all. It happens to be that one student is white, and the other black,” Vo said.

Vo said the black student who was portrayed in the photo is a former student body president, who referred to himself as the “black Caesar.” Vo said anyone on campus would have understood the photo’s reference to Caesar’s assassination in the Roman Senate. He said the article that accompanied the story made no mention of race except “black Caesar.”

The college media board considered the possibility of firing Vo, but decided in July that he could keep his job. Vo said the paper published an apology in the first issue of the summer.

Vo suggested to the board the idea of finding an as-needed journalism adviser who could answer questions for editors when controversial topics come up. Currently there is no journalism department at the university, and the Aggie is an independent publication.

“More than anything, this is not an institutional flaw in the system, this is an oversight issue,” Vo said.

The Minnesota Daily at the University of Minnesota has a long-standing tradition of lampooning campus figures and issues in the spring finals week edition. This year, the jokes went a little too far in the eyes of some readers. In particular, one cartoon that many black students found to be offensive.

The cartoon, titled “Thuggish Ruggish,” portrayed a young, black man who denies he impregnated a girlfriend, then accuses her of being promiscuous.

The cartoon sparked protests by students, including members of two black student groups. The protesting students requested a formal apology and asked the Daily to fire cartoonist Mike DeArmond.

Current editor Todd Milbourn said steps are already being made to address sensitivity at the newspaper. He also said, to his knowledge, DeArmond left the paper of his own accord. Mike Wereschagin, who was editor at the time the cartoon ran and has since finished his term, issued an apology for the cartoon on the Daily’s Web site.

In a similar case, the editors of The Catalyst student newspaper at Colorado College in Colorado Springs resigned, following an April Fool’s Day issue that garnered heavy criticism.

Editor Audrey Thompson and managing editor John Traub resigned in April under pressure, after the college instituted several initiatives following the incident were instituted by the college following the April 1 edition.