Saint Louis Post Dispatch dumps columnist George Will over 'offensive' rape column

The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch announced today that it has dropped conservative columnist George Will's column from the paper, citing a recent piece in which Will asserted that sexual assault victims on college campuses enjoyed "coveted status."

In the controversial column which drew a letter of reproach from four U.S. Senators, Will wrote that college administrators are being “educated by Washington.” Will wrote, “they are learning that when they say campus victimizations are ubiquitous” they are promoting the idea that victimhood is “a coveted status that confers privileges, victims proliferate.”

In a letter to readers, the Post-Dispatch apologized for running the offending column, calling it "offensive and inaccurate."

The paper noted that plans to drop Will's column had been in the works for months and that the recent column "made the decision easier."

The Post-Dispatch  cited responses from both conservative and liberal  readers contributed  to its decision, writing: "We have heard from both conservative and liberal readers asking for new conservative voices."

Will's Thursday and Sunday spot in the paper will taken over by former George W. Bush speechwriter -- and  St. Louis-native -- Michael Gerson who, like Will is a member of the Washington Post's stable of columnists.

Gerson is notable for coining the term "Axis of Evil," used by the former president to describe Iran, Iraq, and North Korea in the run up to the ill-fated 2003 invasion of Iraq.