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A comic published in the UA student newspaper on Tuesday has been heavily criticized as anti-Semitic and editors are responding with an apology to run in today's edition.

"I've gotten tons of feedback on it," said Allison Hornick, editor in chief of the Arizona Daily Wildcat. "Basically they think it's anti-Semitic and that we shouldn't have run it."

The comic, by staffer Joseph Topmiller, pictured a restaurant credit-card slip with a 7 percent tip and a signature for "Mark Goldfarb." Underneath was written: "Attention all crappy tipping Jews!!! Just because you're 'screwing' the server … does not mean that it's a mitzvah."

Robert Lattin, a Jewish student at the UA, called the comic "hateful."

"The second I read it, it hit me that this was a cheap shot at the Jewish community," said Lattin, a Near Eastern studies senior from Delaware. "I can see no other purpose of this comic other than to exploit a stereotype. That's what we call racism in this society."

Michelle Blumenberg, executive director of the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation, said the center has heard from a lot of students upset at the comic and that she joined J. Edward Wright, director of the Center for Judaic Studies, in drafting a letter to the editor.

"Definitely this has been a hot topic in the Jewish community on campus and I would say that most people are really upset," she said. "All it does is come across as mean, crude, racist, anti-Semitic stereotyping.

"People have been very clear to me that it has not been a question of First Amendment rights and free speech. It has been a question of taste and perpetuating a negative stereotype," Blumenberg said. "The overwhelming sense is that the editorial staff of the Wildcat could have made a different decision when they were pondering whether to publish the comic or not."

Hornick said the intent of the comic didn't match the way it was received and when editors debated whether to run the comic, they concluded it wasn't malicious.

"If anyone follows his comic, what he tries to do is make fun of the people who believe in stereotypes," she said. "What he was trying to do with this comic is make fun of the people who think Jewish people are cheap. He wasn't trying to be malicious."

After receiving more than 30 complaints — from Jewish students, the university president's office and the student body president, among others — Hornick decided to publish an apology in today's opinion section.