Teachers Want Apology for Union Cartoon

The San Diego Teachers Assn. demanded an apology Tuesday from the San Diego Union for printing an editorial cartoon that it said is “an unwarranted cheap shot” at city and county teachers.

“It wouldn’t be so bad having AIDS in school,” one youngster seated in class tells another in the cartoon. “At least you wouldn’t have to worry about being molested by any of the teachers.”

The 1985 cartoon was drawn by cartoonist Bruce Beattie--who is not the Union’s staff cartoonist--and distributed by the Copley News Service. It appeared Tuesday on the Union’s editorial pages above an article on educating children about AIDS that was written by syndicated columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak.

In a letter to the Union, Donald Crawford, president of the union representing San Diego city school teachers, said that “it is insensitive and erroneous for a major media source to portray the societal problems of AIDS and child abuse as a common fact of schooling in San Diego.”

“Such exploitation is more than in poor taste; it is an unwarranted cheap shot at the thousands of teachers in the city and county who strive to provide a quality education to our children,” Crawford wrote.

Union Editor Gerald Warren was not commenting on the issue Tuesday, said Rick Levinson, the Union’s city editor. Attempts to reach Warren, Editorial Page Editor Edward Fike, readers’ representative Cliff Smith and Managing Editor Karin Winner for comment were unsuccessful.