The Chicago Tribune declined to run George Will's controversial column on sexual assault, labeling it “misguided and insensitive.”

Will has been under fire following a column he wrote earlier this month about “the supposed campus epidemic of rape” and how some schools' efforts to curb the problem “make victimhood a coveted status that confers privileges.” The column sparked outrage and calls for his removal from the Washington Post by prominent women's rights groups, including the National Organization for Women and UltraViolet. Several U.S. senators have also criticized Will.

On June 18, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch announced it was dropping Will's column from the paper following his “offensive and inaccurate” piece.

The Tribune, one of the largest papers in the country, told Media Matters that the paper turned Will's column down after reading it.

In comments to Media Matters, Bruce Dold, editorial page editor of the Tribune, explained why his paper, which runs Will on occasion, passed on the June 7 column.

“I thought the column was misguided and insensitive,” Dold told Media Matters Thursday. “We didn't publish it. Marcia Lythcott, the Op-Ed editor, made that decision and it was the right call.”

The paper has no plans to abandon Will permanently, however. 

“That doesn't mean we pulled Will for that week, though. We don't anchor syndicated columnists,” Dold explained. “We run George Will on occasion. I checked our archives and it looks like we've run him four times in the past year. We will continue to consider him on a column by column basis, as we do with other syndicated columnists we buy.”