Crowds react to Hornet photo

Nadine Simonson
State Hornet
Published Online October 7, 1999

Members of the Latino community led a protest against the State Hornet newspaper Thursday for publishing a photo depicting the arrest of a man during the Causeway Classic football game.

Holding signs accusing the Hornet of stereotyping Latinos, demonstrators gathered in the Library Quad at 11:30 a.m. to speak out against the racial message of the photograph.

The photograph, which ran on the front page of Wednesday's edition, depicted Gustavo Chavez being arrested by University Police at the Sept.18 football game. The photograph was accompanied by articles addressing the campus' concern over safety at large sporting events.

The demonstrators demanded the State Hornet editorial board make a front-page apology for running the picture, notify readers of the paper's policy about publishing pictures and provide statistics about the number of Latinos on staff.

Protesters accused the Hornet of publishing trash and marched around campus emptying State Hornet newsstands. Some, chanting and singing, returned several hundred copies of the newspapers to the Hornet office.