#ThrowbackThursday: University Administrator wants her day in court

By Christine Tatum
College Press Service
Jan 22, 1998

Editors at Virginia Tech’s student newspaper claimed it was a terrible mistake when a Virginia Tech administrator was referred to as the “director of butt-licking” in an edition of the Collegiate Times. The student journalists say dummy type accidentally made it into print.

But the administrator, Sharon Yeagle, isn’t buying that explanation. Yeagle, the assistant to the university’s vice president, believes she was the target of a cruel joke and has filed suit against the newspaper for printing the 1996 article. She wants at least $850,000 to make up for the damage she claims was done to her professional and personal reputation.

Student editors sent a letter of apology to Yeagle the day after the article, ran, explaining the mistake was made from a combination of a computer glitch and poor proofreading. To create the newspaper page, they had used a template containing titles so absurd no one could forget to change them—or so they thought.

But the damage already was done, said Yeagle’s attorney, Leisa Ciaffone.
“Even if there was an accident, the laws of this state prevent people from negligence,”
said Ciaffone.

Yeagle has asked the Virginia Supreme Court to review the case and to decide whether she is entitled to a jury trial. A lower court dismissed the case last year. Circuit Judge Ray W. Grubbs said no reasonable person could have read the article–which correctly identified Yeagle by name and position and believe the bold quotes attached contained Yeagle’s title.

“This is an unfortunate incident that she has to move on from and become a little more thick-skinned about,” said James R. Creekmore, the student newspaper’s attorney. “ I don’t think a reasonable reader would think this is an assertion of fact, and if it’s not asserted as correct–a person’s reputation can’t be harmed.”

“But let’s say someone assumed the title was correct,” he continued. “In this context, it goes the route of subjective opinion and impression. It becomes of matter of free speech and expression. What may be a butt-licker to one person isn’t necessarily a butt-licker to another.”

However, the crude phrase is easily defined as someone who shamelessly curries favor for personal and professional gain, Ciaffone said. To make matters worse, Ciaffone said, the article appearing with the bold quotes featured a string of glowing comments from Yeagle about the university sending students to a state honors program.

“My client makes some very positive comments, and the Collegiate Times essentially calls her a brown-noser, an apple-polisher, and a kiss-ass,” Ciaffone said. “If someone reads that story and they don’t know Sharon Yeagle, they may not believe a word she says.”

“Ms. Yeagle is a professional woman who is very good at her job and worked very hard to get where she is.”

That is why it has been difficult for Yeagle to endure the snickers and jokes that have come from co-workers, supervisors, and even her son’s classmates, Ciaffone said.

“People were laughing the day it ran, and they’re still laughing,” Ciaffone said. The state Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in three months.

Evolution of Slang Terms

Seventeen years ago, Sharon Yeagle attempted to sue Virginia Tech’s college newspaper for printing dummy text that called her the “director of butt-licking.”
Reading the article now in 2015 all I can do is laugh at the word “butt-licker” and think, “how could someone take this so seriously?” The reality is that, words, and the meanings behind them change every day.

Here is our list of the top 10 words that have evolved over time:

1. Sick
What once meant to be ill, or unwell, now it means, to be cool, or insane.
2. Hook-up
To hook up your television, or to sleep with your boss?
3. Bad
From bad to good, in 17 years.
4. Tool
What was once used as an item fix your car, is now used as a name for a rude man.
5. Ill
Originally it referred to feeling sick, now it means cool or awesome.
6. Gay
It used to mean lighthearted and carefree, now it refers to sexual orientation.
7. Thongs
Flip flops, or panties? You tell me.
8. Basic
What used to be a measurement on the pH scale is now used as a measurement of how uninteresting and unsophisticated something is.
9. Swag
Swags are curtain fixtures, but now the word is used as description of some style.
10. Thirsty
At one point, when you were thirsty you would grab a drink. Now if you’re thirsty you’ll grab the closest person next to you.

Here is our list of the top 10 words our generation has made up, defined by urban dictionary:

1. Selfie: A picture taken of yourself that is planned to be uploaded to Facebook, Myspace or any other sort of social networking website, usually accompanied by a kissing face, or looking off in the distance.
2. Hashtag: To put it simply, a hash tag is simply a way for people to search for tweets that have a common topic and to begin a conversation.
3. Tweep: The words ‘tweet’ and ‘peeps’ combined. Only used to describe the folks that have a twitter account.
4. Catfish: A catfish is someone who pretends to be someone they’re not using Facebook or other social media to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive online romances.
5. Turducken: A duck stuffed in a chicken stuffed in a turkey. The ultimate example of our domination of the animal kingdom.
6. Vape: To inhale vapor from E-cigarettes. Used because “smoking” an E-cig doesn’t apply, as there is no smoke only vapor.
7. Bae: Bæ/bae is a Danish word for poop. Also used by people on the Internet who think it means baby, sweetie etc.
8. Fleek: On point.
9. Doe: An alternative term for the word “though.”
10. Duff: Designated Ugly Fat Friend.