College newspaper editor regrets column

The editor-in-chief of The Campus Echo - N.C. Central University's student newspaper — has posted a column to the paper's Web site expressing regret for publishing a column in a recent issue that appeared to promote violence.

Editor-in-Chief Rony Camille posted the note to readers today saying he regrets publishing a column by student Solomon Burnette bearing the headline "Death to all Rapists."

The Echo, a bi-weekly publication, is done publishing for the academic year.

In the April 18 column, Burnette, a Durham native, made reference to the recently concluded Duke lacrosse case, in which three white athletes accused of sexually assaulting a black stripper were declared innocent.

Burnette wrote that blacks cannot get a fair shake under the current American justice system and should thus stand up and fight, "whether intellectually, artistically or physically."

"I am not surprised at the outcome of this case. As a son of Africa, I know that American law is not worth the paper it is written on," he wrote, adding later in the column: "White people still murder us with impunity. White people still beat us with impunity. White people still rape us and get away with it."

Camille, the Echo editor, co-wrote the new column with Bruce DePyssler, the paper's faculty advisor.

"It was important to set the record straight and not have people misled about our school," Camille said today.