UGA student newspaper editor resigns

By Jaime Sarrio and Jim Galloway

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The editor-in-chief of the University of Georgia’s campus newspaper resigned Monday after being asked to leave the president’s box – and a visit with Gov.-elect Nathan Deal and Gov. Sonny Perdue — during Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech.

Daniel Burnett, 22,  acknowledged Monday that he had been drinking at a tailgate party Saturday before he went to the game. He apologized for his behavior but said he was not drunk and doesn't believe he acted intoxicated in front of the governor and the governor-elect.

"It wasn’t like we ran right from a tailgate to the president’s box," said the senior from Canton. “I think someone smelled alcohol on my breath and thought, ‘He’s a student. He shouldn’t be here.'”

An assistant to university President Michael Adams told the newspaper, The Red & Black, that Burnett's behavior was disruptive enough that he was asked to leave. The paper reported that publisher Harry Montevideo sent a letter of apology to Adams on behalf of the organization, something Burnett said he also plans to do.

"I am disappointed in my actions. I believe I made the wrong choice, but on the same token, I believe it was blown up into something much larger," he said.

A spokesman for Perdue described the governor’s encounter with the student editor as “friendly and very brief.” A Deal representative said the governor-elect noticed nothing strange.

“[Burnett] asked to take a picture with Nathan, and Nathan did that. That was Nathan’s only interaction with him,” spokesman Brian Robinson said Monday. “Whatever happened that led him to be asked to leave, did not happen in front of Nathan.”