Formal hearing to be held on editor's future

FORT COLLINS – The Colorado State University Board of Student Communication has scheduled a formal hearing over the future of the editor of the school newspaper.

The board is examining the future of Rocky Mountain Collegian Editor J. David McSwane. He came under fire after publishing the editorial, which read "Taser this... F--- Bush," on Friday.

The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, October 4 at 4:30 p.m. and it will be closed to the public.

At the meeting, the board will decide to do one of four things: dismiss the complaints, or admonish, reprimand or dismiss McSwane.

McSwane must be at the hearing, but it is unclear if his attorney will be allowed to attend as well. He recently hired David Lane, the attorney who represents former University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill.

The board decided to hold the meeting after getting complaints over "journalistic integrity and responsibility," both of which relate to the code of ethics for both student media and the Collegian. The two organizations have separate codes.

In both codes of ethics, the board is looking at a specific sentence that says "profane and vulgar words are not acceptable for opinion writing."

The decision comes in the wake of a meeting on Wednesday night where hundreds of students showed up both showing support and opposition of McSwane for the headline.

The CSU College Republicans have submitted a petition to the board calling for McSwane's resignation. Petitioners have gathered more than 500 signatures from students since Monday.

No Collegian editor has ever been fired in its 116-year history.