The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Loyola magazine under fire for sexually explicit images

The front cover featured a black-and-white drawing of a woman with electrical tape across her nipples and the word "slut" written on her underwear, according to Jane Neufeld, dean of students and former budget adviser to Diminuendo.,”A sexually explicit drawing that appeared in the Oct. 22 issue of Diminuendo, Loyola University Chicago's literary magazine, has caused university officials to limit the magazine's circulation.

The front cover featured a black-and-white drawing of a woman with electrical tape across her nipples and the word "slut" written on her underwear, according to Jane Neufeld, dean of students and former budget adviser to Diminuendo.

The drawing, along with another on an inside page showing a naked woman being anally penetrated, were part of the magazine's series on sex.

The images offended many students and faculty members and faculty met to discuss them, Neufeld said.

The following day, university administrators took the magazine off newsstands and limited it to the Diminuendo and Neufeld's office, said the Rev. Richard Salmi, vice-president of student affairs.

"It was pretty offensive stuff," Salmi said. "It crossed the lines of decency."

Salmi said he did not think the magazine was appropriate to have lying around.

Neufeld also said she did not approve of the drawing. The magazine pushed the envelope at a Jesuit institution, she said.

"I know the art is subjective, but I was disappointed and offended as a woman," Neufeld said.

The editors of Diminuendo defended the drawings in an editorial to Loyola's student newspaper, The Phoenix.

In the editorial, Diminuendo Editor-in-Chief Bre Kidman said she did not expect the response the images received. She said the images were not meant to be offensive but representative of a woman comfortable with her sexuality.

"We didn't see a degradation of woman, pornography or anything purposefully fighting the Jesuit tradition," Kidman wrote.

Diminuendo editors declined to comment on the situation to the Tribune.

Neufeld said Kidman came to her two weeks before the magazine was released to tell her about the upcoming issue. Neufeld said she would not censor the magazine, but the publications' editors would have to defend themselves.

Neufeld said she did not see the content until the Friday before it was released. She said she was disappointed and did not expect it.

Neufeld has since stepped down as the budget advisor to Diminuendo.

"As dean of students and their advisor—it was a conflict," Neufeld said. "It was not the right place to be and it seemed like an opportune time."

The magazine held an open forum on Nov. 1 for students to talk about the drawings, Neufeld said.

Mary Peg Warner, a sophomore at Loyola, said she thought the university should let the magazine print what it wants, but understood the implications of printing the material at a Jesuit university.

"It's at a Jesuit university and it's offensive to people," Warner said. "But it's good you can still get it, but not everywhere."

Elizabeth Niedringhaus, a junior at Loyola, said there has been a lot of buzz on campus about the pictures.

"Sex isn't always about love," Niedringhaus said. "They made some things explicit because sometimes that's what sex is."

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