Other articles by Aaron Mackey:

UA-led space research concludes Mars once had water, perhaps life UA's biggest college gets interim dean Deal lets students pursue bachelor's degrees online UA fraternity's hazing documentedUA report cites hazing at fraternity booted from campus Incoming president of regents aims to cut students' costs UA lags in money made off its innovationsRegents like C+ transfer requirementRegents call for cooperation Regents OK 5-year deal, highest pay for Miller

Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps Health Care
Dependable Health Services
Physical Therapists Health Care
CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE
DIRECTOR OF HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Health Care
Sierra Tucson
Eating Disorders Program Coordinator

A comic containing the N-word that ran in the University of Arizona's student newspaper and ignited a campus controversy Wednesday was the result of a production error.

Students and other members of the UA community packed a meeting room at the campus Martin Luther King Jr. Center on Wednesday night, demanding that leaders of the Arizona Daily Wildcat, the institution's independent student newspaper, apologize for what many deemed racist content.

A chain e-mail circulating on campus Thursday had several student leaders demanding a boycott of the Wildcat in addition to telling its advertisers how they feel.

Another student forum took place Thursday night.

But the comic never should have run, said Lauren LePage, the paper's editor in chief.

She said she'd selected a different comic, which commemorated the presidential election of Barack Obama, for that day.

Another editor had selected the controversial comic from a computer server and placed it on the page. LePage later replaced the controversial cartoon on the server but not on the page. She didn't notice the error until after the paper had been printed.

"There was an honest mistake," she said. "I take full responsibility for the fact that it erroneously ran in the paper."

The comic, by syndicated black cartoonist Keith Knight, depicted an actual event on the Obama campaign trail in which a person used the racial slur to describe the president-elect.

According to press reports at the time, a person canvassing a Pennsylvania neighborhood on behalf of Obama asked a woman whom she planned to vote for. The woman asked her husband, who was in another room.

He replied, "We're voting for the (N-word)," press reports said. The woman turned to the canvasser and said the same thing.

Knight's cartoon depicting the event ran in several student newspapers in October, causing similar controversies at those schools.

LePage said she thought the cartoon was hurtful and never would have approved it, adding that the comic's appearance in the Wildcat the day after Obama was elected was unfortunate.

"The timing was absolutely horrible," she said. "You want your content to be relevant and match the news of the day."

Student response to the comic was swift. A small group of students met with LePage after the comic ran, with others hosting a forum later in the day. The latters' sentiments are outlined in an e-mail sent to LePage and signed by several student leaders, including student body President Tommy Bruce.

"The 'N-word' still carries a great deal of relevance in the way African Americans are consistently stereotyped while attempting to break through traditionally non-black roles in our society," the e-mail said. "This is another example of the lack of consideration to very important racial issues."

The e-mail calls for a massive petition campaign to demonstrate the campus community's disgust with the comic and asks that the community establish expectations for the Wildcat.

The e-mail also calls for a boycott of the paper, which is financially independent of the UA and run entirely by students.

Mark Woodhams, director of the UA's Arizona Student Media and adviser to the Wildcat, said the controversy isn't a matter of free speech.

"It is their right to publish what they want, but in reality this was not something that they had intended to publish," he said.

"Obviously, it offended people, but the explanation is simple and logical," he said. "Sometimes in simplicity you will find the truth."

To make sure a similar situation never occurs again, LePage sent an e-mail to Wildcat staffers reminding them of a policy that calls for potentially offensive content to be reviewed by senior editors before it can be printed.

The paper also will have the comics page proofread for spelling and content by the paper's copy editors, LePage said.

"We're bringing more eyes to it, so that if there is ever any miscommunication again there will be backup."

Knight, the comic's creator, said in a statement that while the word is offensive, its use was intended to examine the realities of racism in America.

"This election is the most significant event to happen concerning race in this country since the civil-rights movement," Knight wrote on his Web site.

"It has shown us what makes this country great, and what we still need to work on."