The Koala


The Koala is a satirical comedy college paper. In its current form, it exists as two loosely affiliated publications, with one primarily distributed quarterly on the campus of University of California San Diego, and monthly on the campus of San Diego State University. The publication at UCSD was one of a handful of campus newspapers partly or entirely funded by the Associated Students of UCSD, until a decision by AS UCSD to defund all 13 student media outlets. The paper still exists as a registered student organization. SDSU's branch of The Koala at one point operated within SDSU Associated Students as a Recognized Student Organization until that status was revoked in 2007. The original branch of The Koala was founded at UCSD in 1982, but the details of its origins are uncertain. The composition of the paper consists of artwork, articles, personals, and lists similar to David Letterman's Top Ten List. The Koalas standing protocol when giving interviews to commercial media of any sort is that no statement can be given until they are furnished with beer from the interviewing entity. Exceptions are made for student media as a matter of courtesy.Therefore, it does give an insight into the live of a Koala, but does butify the situation as well.
Nearly all of UCSD Koala's writing involves making fun of a race, ethnicity, religion, group, people with disabilities, sex, or sexual orientation, as well as recent national tragedies. No subject is taboo and boundaries are nonexistent. The paper also encourages a hedonistic lifestyle including alcohol, drugs, and debauchery.
The Koala at UCSD inspired spin-offs papers distributed at San Diego State University, which was founded in 2004, and California State University San Marcos, which was founded in 2011. San Marcos' Koala has ceased publishing due to legal action involving its staff. The San Diego State University Koala continues to publish an issue monthly.

History

UCSD

The Koala began life as a publication dedicated to publishes the scores of sports events on the campus of UCSD in 1982. The name of the paper is a reference to the eucalyptus trees that grow on the campus, the leaves of which are the sole source of food in a koala's diet. In 1985 the paper attended sanctioned student organization status.

Attempted dissolution by UCSD in 2002

On November 19, 2001, two UCSD Koala staff members attended an open meeting of MEChA. A student photographer, who was not a member of The Koala, later submitted his photographs from the meeting to the paper, which used them in a criticism and parody of MEChA's president, Ernesto Martinez. In February 2002, three months after the meeting, the University accused the two Koala students who attended the MEChA meeting and The Koala itself of violating the Student Code's prohibition of "obstruction or disruption of teaching, research, administration, disciplinary procedures, or other UCSD or University activities." In March 2002, Vice Chancellor Joseph W. Watson wrote to "all academics... staff... and students at UCSD": "We condemn The Koala's abuse of the Constitutional guarantees of free expression and disfavor their unconscionable behavior." The University announced that a trial would be held to determine if the paper would be dissolved.
On May 22, 2002, the UCSD Judicial Board opened the trial to the campus media. The UCSD administration refused to participate and left the hearing. Two days later, Director of Student Policy and Judicial Affairs Nicholas S. Aguilar nullified the hearing and ordered a retrial behind closed doors. At the secret trial held on June 5, 2002, the charges were dismissed.

Criticism of university

The university administration was subject to sharp criticism for its handling of the case.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, released documents and emails indicating that the University encouraged official complaints from MEChA President Ernesto Martinez, and instructed him on how to proceed legally and informally against The Koala. Director of Student Policy and Judicial Affairs Nicholas S. Aguilar denounced the "hate, bigotry, and intolerance" of The Koala. Aguilar encouraged Martinez to submit to his office "any complaints of alleged misconduct not based on the content of the publication." He further assured Martinez of his and the UCSD's administration's support of "the UCSD Principles of Community," which, in his view, Martinez was defending against The Koala. Despite his statements in support of MEChA, Aguilar did not recuse himself from the case. In response to a letter from FIRE, Aguilar claimed that UCSD's actions against The Koala was not based on the content of the publication. Some of these documents were later published by The Koala.
FIRE also pointed out that in 1995, another UCSD student publication, Voz Fronteriza, published an editorial which celebrated the death of Luis A. Santiago, a Latino Immigration and Naturalization Service officer who died in the line of duty. The article described Santiago as ""traitor...to his race," and stated that "We're glad this pig died, he deserved to die," and argued, "All the Migra pigs should be killed, every single one...the only good one is a dead one...The time to fight back is now. It is time to organize an anti-Migra patrol...It is to bad that more Migra pigs didn't die with him." In response to outrage generated by this article, Vice Chancellor Joseph W. Watson, whose office oversaw the trial of The Koala, defended Voz Fronteriza's "right to publish their views without adverse administrative action" because "student newspapers are protected by the first amendment of the U.S. constitution." The UCSD administration also issued a formal statement that the University was "legally prohibited from censoring the content of student publications."
Thor L. Halvorssen, executive director of FIRE, cited Vice Chancellor Watson's and USCD's 1995 defense of Voz Fronteriza, and argued that "UCSD hypocritically and selectively violates both its own obligations to that Constitution and its own unconstitutional restrictions of speech on behalf of 'courtesy' and 'sensitivity.'" Alan Charles Kors, president of FIRE, argued that "This is an unmistakable attempt to censor officially disfavored views. The same university that in 1995 declared MEChA's call for the murder of U.S. immigration officers to be 'protected by the first amendment of the U.S. constitution' now prosecutes a student publication's parody of MEChA as 'disruptive.'"

Other controversies

Other scandals which have garnered national media attention are:
The SDSU branch of The Koala was founded in the fall semester of 2004 and originally operated out of the Theta Chi fraternity. After two years and an article critical of the Greek system the partnership ended. The SDSU Koala became a RSO in fall of 2006 which allowed it funding and office space in the now demolished Aztec Center. In May 2007 the administration reported that a staff member urinated in one of the elevators which gave university police probable cause to enter and search The Koalas student union office. There they found alcohol which violated university policy and the RSO status was revoked.
In May 2008 a statement from an anonymous reader appeared in the 'Personals' section of the newspaper stating "Frat boys, the DEA is after you”. A day later Operation Sudden Fall culminated in the largest campus drug bust in San Diego County history and one of the largest college drug busts in U.S. history.
In the fall of 2013 students send a letter to SDSU's Freedom of Expression Committee calling for an end of the publications distribution on campus. The request was denied.

Other controversies

The CSUSM branch of The Koala was founded in spring semester of 2011. In March 2012 editor Matt Weaver, used keyloggers on campus computers to gain the login information of students, which he planned to use to get himself elected as student body president. The plot was discovered by campus staffers and the FBI arrested Weaver on 12 felony charges of identity theft, election fraud, and illegally accessing a university computer system. He pleaded guilty and was convicted.

Other controversies

UCSD

The Koala at UCSD produces one issue roughly every quarter and never during the summer. They are a sanctioned student organization but are unable to use funds from the university as of a decision made in November 2015. The content of the UCSD Koala can be categorized as shock humor. Described as nihilistic, it holds nothing as too taboo or off limits. This branch operates the domain TheKoala.org, where it keeps a public archive of its past issues.

SDSU

The Koala at SDSU produces one issue every month and never during the summer. Since losing RSO status this branch has been fully self sustained, solely using ad revenue to cover the printing of each issue. The content of the SDSU Koala has been described as absurdist humor centering on student life, hedonistic lifestyles and party culture. The Koala has published articles promoting sex/body positive, drug use and recently pro-socialist, anti-capitalist sentiments. This branch operates sdsukoala.weebly.com and provides an archive to paid subscribers.

Possible failed or inactive branches