One Florida student newspaper’s idea of an April Fools joke cost the students their jobs. Last week, Stetson University officials gave The Reporter staff 15 minutes to clean out their desks after the university administration said that the staff had gone too far in its yearly April Fools’ Day issue, nicknamed The Distorter.

“There’s not much in this year’s Distorter that you can laugh about,” said Michelle Espinosa, Stetson dean of students. “We believe very strongly in students’ need for autonomy. But the students do assume responsibility for their editorial decisions.”

The infamous edition included a sex column written in Ebonics, a mock article about a civil rights lecture series focused on a racist Civil War enthusiast drinking beer at the podium, and contained advertisements promoting spray that “kills townies dead,” according to the Orlando Sentinel. The issue was sprinkled with racist jokes and profanity, and the sex column also advocated rape and domestic violence, according to CNN.

“We pushed some buttons that may not have needed to be pushed,” said sex columnist August Brown.

By publishing joke editions such as these, student newspapers lose their credibility. The administration had the right to fire the student editors and reporters because Stetson University is a private college, where the First Amendment only goes so far. If this incident had occurred at a public university such as Iowa State, it would have been a different story. But that doesn’t excuse any student newspaper at either a private or public institution for publishing garbage such as The Reporter’s issue.

Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va., told the Orlando Sentinel he was concerned with the precedence of Stetson University’s decision to fire the students because it may hinder free speech at the university in the future. But, he said, “just because it’s legal doesn’t make it right.”

Espinosa agreed and said, “Having the right and having the responsibility to use that right [the First Amendment] are two different things,” she said. “It’s a violation of the mission statement and ethical guidelines described under the parameters of the university.”

Fortunately, the students will be able to reapply and reinterview for their positions starting this summer for fall publication.

Hopefully the students of the prize-winning newspaper, which is the oldest in the state will be able to use this incident as a valuable lesson in their careers as professional journalists.

“We’ve learned a lot in the last week as students and journalists,” said former editor in chief Teresa Schwarz to the Orlando Sentinel. “I think that’s something [the staffers are] overlooking.”

Editorial Board: Cavan Reagan, Amber Billings, Ayrel Clark, Charlie Weaver, Katie List