Columbia College recently fired alumnus and teaching assistant Mark Phillips for his involvement in the creation of an online video, entitled "Wacky Warrick," which satirized the College's president, Warrick Carter, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Phillips was fired after an investigation by the administration, which included the monitoring of his personal accounts on the Web site MySpace.com created as part of the satire. The investigation confirmed Philips' involvement as well as evidence proving that had worked on the animations on the job.

The cartoons satirize Carter for, among other things, lack of fundraising ability, frivolous spending of money and his intelligence. Phillips' identity remained a secret until after he was fired last December. He has claimed that more than 10 other students and alumni, who still remain anonymous, also helped in the creation of the cartoon.

The college's means of obtaining evidence was controversial, particularly the late-night raid by school officials into normally locked science building computers. They found three images associated with the animated Warrick character in a folder belonging to Phillips, evidence which they claim is proof that Phillips worked on the cartoons in the labs, but which Phillips and others have said could have been the result of employees frequently swapping computers and of any number of people simply viewing the images.

Critics have spoken out against what they call the administration's invasive searching of computers for evidence, as well as the relatively trivial reasons for Phillips' firing. Columbia College Professor Zafra M. Lerman said that the administration's actions resembled the Watergate break-in more than a routine campus-security procedure. "My scientific method tells me that if you want to do something in the middle of the night, that's probably because it's unethical," said Lerman.

However, the college has tried to portray the issue as being separate from a free speech issue, and insists it is an issue of employee policy. Markland Lloyd, Columbia's assistant vice president for marketing and communication said, "I think that Mr. Phillips and Dr. Lerman have sought to portray this as a freedom-of-expression issue, and that's simply not the way we look at it. To us, this is just a personal issue." He added that the college had made no effort to censor access to either the "Wacky Warrick" cartoons or to the fake MySpace profile.

Phillips admitted he had no legal recourse against the college since his "at-will" employee status allowed the college to fire him for any number of reasons. "They could fire me if they don't like the way I tie my shoelaces," Philips said.

In response, Columbia's College Council is passing a resolution asking for a reaffirmation of the school's computer privacy rules. Meanwhile, Phillips and the other anonymous creators of "Wacky Warrick" intend to continue new episodes of the animated series.