Clareification Information

Clareification is the weekly student newsletter of Clare College, a college of the University of Cambridge. Clareification is recorded to have evolved gradually in the mid-late 1990s as a newsletter of the Union of Clare Students, although alumni of the college have claimed it was in circulation in the 1980s. Named as a pun on the colleges name, it was padded out with comedy articles, gradually turning into a weekly or fortnightly comedy paper. The paper is produced by editor(s) elected each year by the student body.

In 2005, it won the Best College Paper award in The Cambridge Student.

In 2007, in a guest-edited edition devoted to religious satire, entitled Crucification, the magazine re-printed one of the Danish Muhammad cartoons which provoked an international incident when they were originally published 15 months earlier.

The guest editor was taken into hiding due to the threat of violent reprisals . The colleges former senior tutor, Dr Patricia Fara, issued a statement saying, "The college finds the publication and the views expressed abhorrent." The college called a Court of Discipline to judge the student and suspended the newsletters funding. The Cambridge Evening News described the issue as "racist" , in an article in which an "insider" suggested that the magazine might constitute "racial incitement". Two students were subsequently interviewed under caution by police in connection with the issue.

Following the incident, the Union of Clare Students Executive independently published two further issues, predominantly devoted to satirising the coverage of the controversy. A new editor was elected the following academic year.

In 2016, a college-wide referendum was held on the continued inclusion of a gossip column, "Clareifornication", in the paper. Students voted to retain the column, but it was abandoned by the next editorial team regardless. A rival, single-side "Clareifuckation" was distributed anonymously by a member of the college.

Past Editors of Clareification have been:

A summary of the controversial issue and the ensuing controversy on Harrys Place[permanent dead link] blog.

The offending pages on Pub Philosopher blog.

Critical analysis of the controversy in The Berry, Spiked Online, New Statesman, The Observer and Guardian Unlimited.

Home page [permanent dead link]

Complete article available at this page.