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VOICES FROM CAMPUS
'Hebdo' attack strengthens resolve of collegiate satirical writers
By Rachel Rosenbaum, Emory University January 13, 2015 2:30 pm
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Days after three militants stormed the headquarters of French satirical
magazine Charlie Hebdo, the world has joined together in the name of
free speech. More than 3.7 million people gathered in France on
been used to show solidarity and support.
The tragedy has sparked a discussion about the role of satire and free
speech — a discussion that has included the editorial meetings of many
student satirical publications across the country
“It was a bit of a shock,” says Sachin Medhekar, the editor-in-chief of
UCLA’s Satyr Magazine. “We all write comedy, we satirize things, but it
was a shock seeing those words responded to with such violence.”
Cover of the 'The Satyr Magazine'. (Courtesy Sachin Medhekar)
reveal that it would have the opposite impact.
“We won’t apologize for what we’ve done and hopefully other satirical
publications won’t either,” Medhekar says.
Medhekar helped revive Satyr in 2012 because he believes so strongly
in the power satire can have both on and off college campuses.
Related: Student journalists respond to ‘Charlie Hebdo’ attack
Cynthia Counts, a first amendment attorney and Emory Law School
professor agrees that satire is a vital form of free speech on college
campuses.
“These satirical publications provide students a forum for the free
expression of their ideas and opinions and encourage students to openly
confront and deal with the challenges of their time,” Counts says.
Sierra Katow, a writer for the Harvard Lampoon, agrees that satirical
publications are needed for democracy.
we wanted to show solidarity with them,” Katow says.
Editor-in Chief of the Emory Spoke, Martin Sigalow, has seen satire
trigger important conversations on Emory’s campus about issues that
students are too afraid to bring up themselves.
During Sigalow’s freshman year, the administration removed one of the
magazine’s posters and inflicted sanctions on its editor-in-chief. The
satirical “wanted” poster called for the student body president to be
brought in dead or alive — a move the administration believed
demonstrated a willingness to inflict bodily harm on another student.
“It’s a slippery slope when you start saying ‘what is OK in a cartoon?’
It [satire] is challenging thinking and ideas and that’s what the whole
point of the first amendment is,” Counts says.
While the attackers might have hoped to incite fear and challenge the
first amendment, it appears the tragedy will have quite the contrary
effect on these satirical publications.
“Any real change that we make is letting the terrorist win. We will
The attack has opened Katow’s eyes to the power of her words.
“This certainly demonstrates the power of satire and I’ll keep that in
mind more so than before,” says Katow. “I’ll put more effort and more
energy into trying to understand the weight of what I’m putting out