We are writing in response to the opinion column you ran Wednesday entitled “White male, white female: Keep it the way God intended.” We were appalled by the egregious oversight on the part of your editing staff to run a satire piece without any preface and as though it were a factual and realistic piece of journalism. As is evident in the prior printing of this article in the Northern Iowan, Mr. Boeckmann created this piece as a way to “question current arguments against homosexual marriage” by highlighting what is now considered by many to be illogical, racist rhetoric used to oppose interracial marriage.

We are disappointed that the Daily has failed to recognize the impact that such an oversight may cause to readers, especially those unaware of the context. The Daily is seen a major voice to students and has significant responsibility in ensuring the accuracy and portrayal of its journalism.

As readers unaware of the context, we attributed this hateful speech to Mr. Boeckmann under the protection of the Iowa State Daily. This was not Mr. Boeckmann’s intention.

To portray it as such is unfair, hurtful and potentially dangerous. As written in the Daily, the article promotes bigotry and serves to strengthen racism and hatred.

In this context we would like to add that even with a qualifying statement indicating satire, pieces such as this often do not achieve the outcomes they were intended to produce. We feel that it is irresponsible and dangerous to create a satire piece in support of lesbian, gay and bisexual marriage which draws upon arguments that are still used today to attack interracial relationships.

These strategies have the potential to perpetuate the hateful rhetoric they aim to dismantle within the populations they hope to educate and have an emotional impact on the community they hope to serve.

We are specifically concerned about the impact of this piece to our communities of color at Iowa State given the outrageous implication of blacks in the article. This impact was undoubtedly compounded by the fact that the Daily failed to run this as satire.

We challenge the Daily and its staff to correct this oversight and to apologize for the impact and hurt it likely caused to many readers.

We also encourage the Daily to seek more positive and insightful avenues to create the space for such critical dialogues to occur.

Autumn Wilke and Teresita Alvarez are graduate students in educational leadership and policy studies.