Diamondback ad prompts student group formation

In response to an advertisement published in The Diamondback last month, students who referred to it as "hate speech" have banded together to ask the newspaper's advertising department to create a policy against printing marginalizing and inflammatory messages.

An advertisement called "You deserve a factual look at ... Muslim Arab Anti-Semitism" for the Facts and Logic About the Middle East organization ran on page three of The Diamondback on Oct. 19, prompting several students to form a group called End Hate Speech at UMD. Yesterday afternoon, two students from the coalition met with members of Maryland Media Inc. — the private company that owns The Diamondback — and Diamondback editor-in-chief Lauren Redding to discuss the issue. Several group members said while the meeting was cordial, they were not satisfied with the two resolutions offered. They They said they will continue their mission to rid the paper of similar advertisements.

At the meeting, MMI President Michael Fribush presented two options: MMI will provide space for the group to print a rebuttal advertisement free of charge — which the company has never done — or publish a guest column or letter in The Diamondback.

"I'm not upset with the way the meeting went today — I don't like the outcome, but it's their stance, and MMI is a company, and they have their own opinion," said junior bioengineering major and Diamondback columnist Osama Eshera, who attended yesterday's meeting. "I wouldn't say I'm upset, but we definitely plan to keep moving forward to make our perspective and what we believe to be the perspective of the majority of students on this campus more clear."

Chelsea Madden, MMI's advertising manager, said in the meeting that the name of the company indicates the organization chooses to be contentious in its carefully worded advertisements.

"It's meant to be inflammatory," she said. "That's why it's called FLAME."

However, FLAME President Gerardo Joffe said the organization publishes advertisements in about 12 university publications each month, and he has never once heard of a complaint lodged.

"If they consider it hate speech, that's OK; I cannot help that," he said. "However, it's not hate speech. It's an exposition of fact. … Everything we present is factual. The anti-Semitism, quotation from Koran, all of it — there's not a word of hate speech in there."

Whenever a group submits an advertisement, that message goes through a vetting process, according to Fribush, and if FLAME wants to purchase another ad, it will go through the same procedure again. The Diamondback's editors and staff writers do not have any control over what advertisements are printed.

Fribush said advertisements are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and there is no written policy on how ads are screened before they are run.

"It's a slippery slope," Fribush said in the meeting. "This is not politically motivated. I don't agree or disagree with the ad, but I agree with that they have the opportunity to say that. … To quote Voltaire, ‘I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.'"

But many End Hate Speech at UMD members said while MMI and the group can agree to disagree, the coalition will continue the fight to rid the paper of "hateful ads." The next step is to hold a town hall forum and for the group to start a petition for their cause, according to Omari Sefu, who attended yesterday's meeting.

If these plans do not work, the coalition will host a rally, which Sefu said he hopes will show that a diverse group of students agree similar ads should not run.

"We still feel that the advertising staff should use its discretion to not run the FLAME ads," Eshera said. "It's really hurtful, and it's presented in a way that isn't open to intellectual discussion. … It states opinions and attempts to pass it off as fact, and it completely closes the door for academic discussion."

Senior staff writers Richard Abdill and Leah Villanueva contributed to this report. romas@umdbk.com