Q & A with former Union editor

Thomas Sizgorich started the semester as editor in chief at the Union, a weekly newspaper funded by Associated Students Inc. He recently resigned from that position amid a cloud of controversy surrounding the cover of the newspaper's Feb. 17 issue, which depicted a nude woman.

Also, several members of the staff of the Union voiced enmity toward Sizgorich and requested his removal. The Union has subsequently gone through several personnel changes and is currently in a state of turmoil. Sizgorich sat down with Rodd Cayton, news editor of the Daily Forty-Niner, to give his side of the story.

Q: How would you describe the political environment of the Union? Do you think the entire staff had the best interests of the CSULB community in mind?

A: In the last few semesters, the paper itself has become sort of an excuse for the staff to have a sort of clubhouse there. What I wanted to do was make The Union a little more like the L.A. and Orange County weeklies. I wanted to cover more in-depth news. I wanted to have more of an emphasis on entertainment.

One of the things I wanted to stress was foreign and independent films. The former entertainment editor was opposed to that idea. It led to his departure from the newspaper. Then I began to hear complaints that I wasn't publishing his work, which put me in a difficult situation because he hadn't written anything.

There was another staffer who was also complaining that I wasn't publishing her work. The one story she wrote, I published. Around these two people, there gathered a knot of discontent. Which is, I think, inevitable whenever you try to change things. I was tired of the Union being a little stoner clubhouse. I thought we could serve the campus community better ....

As far as the entire staff having the best interest of the CSULB community at heart, no. There are some small-minded people in the world and their main thrust was to hurt me Ñ and if they hurt the Union and the community, so be it.

Q: What caused you to run the cartoon? What kind of response did you anticipate?

A:The infamous cartoon butt. That issue was supposed to be dedicated to President's Day. I asked a very talented cartoonist named Matt Puentes to do his version of the George Washington on the dollar bill.

What he brought in was the cartoon that you saw and I thought it was good because it was iconoclastic. I looked at it and said, "Who can get offended by this?"

The charges that were brought up about sexism really bothered me, because, having lived in Spain and having traveled through Europe, I've seen sexism and I've seen exactly how ugly it is.

Q: What do you think of the subsequent changes in the staff, and how do you think the rest of the semester will go for the Union? A: David Weiner had a semester's experience; he helped the Union get better last semester than it had been the semester before and he stood for the position of editor in chief.

The [A.S.] Senate rejected him in favor of Loren Kopff, who has no experience. Kopff himself has since resigned, so obviously he would agree that he's not qualified for the position. I think they just wanted somebody they felt would be docile and easily managed. As far as the rest of the semester for the Union, I think the Union will slide back into what it was, if not this semester then next semester.

Q: What is your opinion of the A.S.I.'s oversight of the Union?

A: I think the A.S.I. should get out of the business of publishing a college newspaper. What they really want is a company newsletter. In semesters past, Associated Students has been gracious enough to allow the Union to publish virtually unimpeded and even publish things which were critical of Associated Students and the Senate. This semester I think there are people on the A.S. Senate who have taken on the mentality of corporate drones.

Q: Was it entirely your choice to leave the Union? A: It was my choice to leave the Union but I think Ñ as evidenced by the A.S.'s decision, when it came to David Weiner Ñ after publication of the cartoon and the reaction to it, I don't think I had much chance of being confirmed as editor in chief. I have four units of French, four units of Greek and three units of Latin .... I have a full plate. I didn't feel fighting with a few staffers was something I wanted to do with my time.

Q: Why did you come to the Union, after quitting the Daily Forty-Niner? (Sizgorich was a Forty-Niner editor) A: I was really seduced by the Union. The Daily Forty-Niner is where the students go to learn their trade ... to learn the standards of the industry. Journalism is not a pure trade, it involves creativity and expression. The Union has traditionally been a stage for that. Q: How seriously do you believe in freedom of speech and how does the concept of free speech relate to a college campus? A: If you can't have free speech on a college campus, then where would you have free speech? Even under totalitarian regimes, college campuses are hotbeds of political activism and sometimes resistance. On this campus, the apathy seems to rise out of the concrete ... it's so ingrained.

Q: What's next for you? A: I'm gonna get straight A's in all my classes