Magazine ‘blatantly racist’

Press, 20 February 1988, Page 11

Magazine ‘blatantly racist’

By

DEBORAH McPHERSON

The Lincoln College Students’ Association was adamant yesterday that it would not pay a bill of $2OOO unless it was “absolutely necessary.” The students have been “fined” by the Race Relations Conciliator for “humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to feelings” caused by the 1987 edition of the capping magazine, “Ram,” which he found to contain material “blatantly and overtly racist.” The president of the Students’ Association, Mr Jeff Montgomery, said however, it would not pay the bill unless

“absolutely necessary,” because it could not afford to. " The “Ram” edition was the subject of complaints by 10 people throughout New Zealand, including Christchurch, made to the Wellington office of the Race Relations Conciliator, Mr Walter Hirsh. Mr Hirsh said the bill was not a fine in the true sense of the word because he did not have the legal power to enforce it. He said, however, that if the “fine” was not paid r ither the Race Relation* Office or the complainants had the option of taking the students to the Equal Opportunities Tribunal,

to try to persuade it to enforce the payment No further action would be taken if the complainants accepted a written assurance that no more racist material would be published. That assurance had already been received from the students as part of the settlement, said Mr Hirsh. The complainants would be unlikely to receive any of the money obtained in the event of a financial settlement because under the act it had to go direct to the injured ethnic group concerned, Mr Hirsh said. Instead, the money would be put in a trust fund to en-

courage activities promoting racial harmony or given to a community group already working to redress intolerance.

Mr Montgomery said the association was not prepared to pay anything until he (Mr Hirsh) replied to its letter asking for information on the legality of the action, how the figure had been reached, and whether the association had a right of appeal. It was also taking legal advice on whether it had to pay.

Mr Hirsh said the association could expect a personal reply in a week, but he was not prepared to answer it through the news media.