UMass president criticizes student's column on felled soldier
By Associated Press | April 29, 2004
AMHERST -- A University of Massachusetts graduate student who wrote a campus newspaper column saying former NFL player Pat Tillman was not a hero for being killed while fighting in Afghanistan was sharply criticized Thursday by the school's president.
UMass president Jack Wilson issued a statement saying Rene Gonzalez' comments in The Daily Collegian "are a disgusting, arrogant and intellectually immature attack on a human being who died in service to his country."
In his column, which ran Wednesday on the opinion page and was posted on the newspaper's Web site, Gonzalez called the former Arizona Cardinals safety a "G.I. Joe guy who got what was coming to him."
"That was not heroism," Gonzalez wrote. "It was prophetic idiocy."
His column, which ran next to a column praising Tillman as a hero, also criticizes America's military response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Tillman, the San Jose, Calif., native who gave up his NFL career to join the Army Rangers in 2002, was killed in combat April 22 in Afghanistan.
While recognizing Gonzalez' right to free speech, Wilson said the student owes Tillman a "debt of gratitude," and said he should apologize to Tillman's friends and family.
The state Senate on Thursday approved a resolution of condemnation, with one member, Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth, calling Gonzalez a "nitwit."
Jared Nokes, president of the Student Government Association, also issued a statement condemning Gonzalez' column.
Gonzalez did not respond to telephone and e-mail messages left Thursday by The Associated Press.
In a response to the controversy generated by the column, the paper's editorial board ran a letter to readers in Thursday's edition saying Gonzalez's views do not reflect The Collegian's opinion.
"We do not hold back from printing news stories, columns or editorials that may upset our readership -- instead, we seek to both inform and stir debate through our publication," the letter said. "Our decision to publish Gonzalez' column -- an opinion piece written by a member of our campus community -- is the only way for us to live up to this ideal."
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