A conservative, student-run journal at Tufts university published a satirical Christmas carol that ridiculed black students and campus affirmative action policies, then issued an apology after some students called on the school to stop funding the journal.
The carol, entitled, O Come All Ye Black Folk, was published in the most recent edition of the Primary Source, which bills itself as "the journal of conservative thought at Tufts University."
The parody of O Come All Ye Faithful calls black people "boisterous" and proclaims, "Born into the ghetto. O Jesus! We need you now to fill our racial quotas."
The lyrics also say, "No matter what your grades are, F's, D's or G's, give them all privileged status."
Douglas Kingman, the journal's news editor, said the satire was intended to call attention to affirmative action policies that he and other magazine staffers feel are unfair.
"The Primary Source regrets that the purpose of the carol was not clearly communicated. The carol was intended as a satirical criticism of affirmative action and was, in fact, intended as an anti-racist statement," Kingman said in e-mailed press release.
The campus government met on Sunday night to discuss the incident, with several students calling on the school to cut funding to Primary Source.
But there seems to be little appetite for taking any drastic action against the journal. In Monday's edition of the daily student newspaper, an editorial appeared with the headline, "Carol went too far, but censorship goes further."
University administrators condemned the carol's publication as "irresponsible," but also stopped short of advocating censorship.
About 8,500 students are enrolled at Tufts, with black students making up about 7 percent of the undergraduate population.
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