Craccum Editor Resigns

O'Leary New Editor

After a heated train of events throughout this year, the editor of Craccum, one of the two Auckland student newspapers, has resigned.

Most notable was the friction caused by the high costs Editor John Sanders had incurred in producing Craccum, and a retaliatory pressure effort by the Auckland executive to force him out of office. The Massey student paper, Chaff, reports that £1033 had been spent on the first four issues, that the circulation had dropped by a third, and that the Craccum printer and staff had become disgruntled.

Outspoke, the other Auckland paper which began this year, reports in its last Issue the "ultimatum" which was put to Sanders. Auckland's now retired president, Herb Rominauk, presented Sanders with a contract which considerably bound the editor's hands Rominauk had said when he was in Wellington for the May study seminar that he proposed taking strong action if the situation warranted it, and this looks like that strong action.

The contract requires the editor to pay for any expenditure in excess of the budgeted account, allows any member of the editorial staff sacked by the editor to appeal to the executive for reconsideration of the editor's action, and it defines what space shall be allotted to each type of material.

Sanders has since resigned, and was given by the editors of Outspoke their whole back page to put his case. He criticises the Executive's action and accuses the new president, Tony Katavich, of attempting to stifle criticism.

Con O'Leary, well known in most New Zealand Universities, is now editor. There is no indication yet as to whether the Executive is keeping as watchful an eye on him as it did on Sanders. Auckland will be responsible this August for reporting tournament activity, so developments there will be of concern to Salient readers.