Kara King, the assistant managing editor of the Notre Dame student newspaper embroiled in controversy over an anti-gay comic, resigned yesterday. In her resignation letter she wrote: “a miscommunication between another editor and myself led to the comic running without me first reading and approving the material. Regardless, no excuse can justify the comic even being considered for publication, and the duty to censor it fell to me.” 

Controversy erupted when The Observer ran an anti-gay cartoon that shocked the nation. The cartoonist, who has not yet been named, suggested that the solution to the issue of homosexuality was “a baseball bat.” 

In her resignation letter, King acknowledged that the cartoon was fueled by antipathy to gay people and added that she considered herself “solely responsible for providing a forum for this message of hate. I was the final one to check the paper that night, and am accountable for all of its content. I regret nothing more than the oversight that led to it and apologize for disgracing the paper with its printing. The comic does not reflect my views or those of The Observer in any way, and I cannot begin to quantify the humiliation in knowing that it is, ultimately, my fault.”
 

King also saw a role for Notre Dame University itself in addressing the fallout from the offending comic. She wrote, “If nothing else, the administration needs to use this instance to acknowledge that discrimination against the LGBT community is a very real problem and one that should not be tolerated. Adding sexuality to the non-discrimination clause and recognizing student groups who fight for these equal rights is overdue, and excuses for not doing so have been used for too long. This is not a problem that can be solved overnight, but the University can join The Observer in taking the first steps towards remedying it.” 

Jenn Metz, The Observer’s editor, acknowledged that she had accepted King’s resignation, adding that she greatly respected King’s courage in writing the letter to the Notre Dame community.