The Daily O’Collegian

I’ll have the crow today, thanks, and for dessert I think I’ll have the bar of soap.

I wrote a column yesterday which was based on comments allegedly made by Earl Mitchell at Tuesday’s peace rally in front of the library. As I do for most of my columns, I read the paper searching for something about which to write, came across a paraphrased statement allegedly made by Mitchell — one of the featured speakers at the rally — comparing our current movement toward war to that of German aggression in 1939 and, justifiably so, he became very pissed off.

Quoting from my column, I made the following statement: “Please tell me that either this newspaper drastically quoted him out of context - well, paraphrased, it wasn’t a direct quote - or please tell me that he is packing his crap into a box today and looking through the want-ads for a new job.”

Well, it turns out the former happens to be the case.

I woke up yesterday morning to two e-mails. The first was from Mitchell, offering to explain what the Office of Multicultural Affairs actually does.

The second was from the reporter who wrote the story, explaining to me that, on second review, the quote was out of context.

With that, allow me to offer my mea culpa and two necessary and fair clarifications to this bit of ugliness.

First, Mitchell said nothing of the sort in his speech. It turns out that the paraphrased quote came from an interview with him after his speech.

Second, as Mitchell explained to me in our meeting yesterday, his only comparison between the U.S. and Germany was the sense that very little of the world is behind our current move to aggression, just as very little of the world was behind Germany’s.

With that, consider this my public apology.

I’ve written roughly 350 columns for The Daily O’Collegian, spanning from my undergraduate years in the mid-1990s to my current daily position, which I’ve held since 2001. I have two basic methods for writing my column. The first is an experience I have on or around campus and my reaction to it. The second is from watching the news and reading four daily newspapers. The obvious inspiration for this story was The Daily O’Collegian, from which most of my column ideas are culled. This was the first time I was blatantly wrong, and I regret it.

The more thoughtful of you will ask why I did not call Mitchell to verify such a statement. While this would seem to be common sense, I’ve never done so before and this method has never failed me until now. I take in what I observe and I react to it, end of story. This may seem a reckless way to do things, but it’s just the way I do them.

I would like to note that my contrition is not an act of self-preservation; for me, it is merely doing the right thing. I have not been urged by a lawyer or the editorial board or the relatively large volume of e-mail I received about this, but out of a particularly strong sense of shame. I can only hope everyone who read Thursday’s column will read today’s as well. Unfortunately, this probably won’t be the case, and for that I am sorry.