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About 60 black students marched Thursday through the University Daily Kansan's newsroom, distributing copies of Kansan articles marked "F" and "unacceptable."

They were protesting the student newspaper's coverage of the Big 12 Conference on Black Student Government, which attracted more than 1,000 students and advisers to KU from Feb. 22 through 25.

Singing songs and chanting in unison, a group representing the Big 12 Black Student Leadership Conference marches across the Kansas University campus to protest the student newspaper's coverage of the black community at KU. Approximately 60 people participated in the protest Thursday.

The paper's editor-in-chief, Lori O'Toole, said the Kansan simply was covering campus news.

But the protesters disagreed with the way the presentation of a front-page article in the Feb. 26 paper. Under the headline "Fight fails to derail minority conference," the story included details about a fight during a party for conference participants. The story also gave details about presenters and workshops at the conference.

"Even after a lot of hard work and sleep deprivation (by conference-goers), they decided to cover a five-minute fight instead of a 72-hour conference," said Gary Roland, president of the Big 12 Conference on Black Student Government, an organization of black leaders from conference schools. "It's unacceptable."

Roland, a KU student, said concerns about the Kansan's coverage of minority issues in the past have lingered.

"Sometimes they do a good job covering minority issues and sometimes they do not," he said. "The lack of sensitivity is from a lack of practice and not wanting to get to know the community."

Protesters filed silently through the Kansan newsroom, distributing copies of the articles and a letter asking editors to require their multicultural reporter to attend diversity training, among other things.

Organizers originally had expected as many as 200 protesters Thursday. Students from Kansas State University and the University of Missouri also participated in the protest.

"It's larger than KU's campus," said KU student Cassandra Young, the conference's co-chair. "We don't know how else to let them know we're serious."

Tom Eblen, Kansan adviser, said he thought the paper should have run two articles one about the fight, and another about the conference events. However, he said other faculty members thought one story was proper.

O'Toole said she stood by the decision to run the article about the fight.

"Regardless of what conference is going on, it was a fight on campus involving students," she said. "The KU cops had to call Lawrence Police for backup. That's a big deal on campus. That doesn't happen very often."

"The story we tried to show was the fight happened, yes, but they were able to move on," she added.

Roland also said the Kansan should strive to recruit more minorities for positions in its newsroom. Though the newspaper has a multicultural beat, the reporter, Danny Phillips, is white.

O'Toole said the paper has contacted the Black Student Union seeking columnists or members for its editorial board. So far, no one has accepted, she said.

O'Toole and other Kansan editors met with leaders from black student organizations last week to discuss minority coverage. She said she hoped to continue the discussions.

"Maybe in some way it would help," she said. "I don't think the protest is just because of this (story on the conference). It represents a long-term tension. Maybe if people are saying things and doing things out in the open, it may ease some of that tension."