Students Analyze Freedom of Press
Ryan Yost & Jenna Steege
Issue date: 5/4/07 Section: Letters to the Editor
To the Editor:
After 85 years of publication, The University News has been given an ultimatum: comply with a new charter or move entirely off campus and change its name.
The timing of this ultimatum is no accident. Our student body's attention is focused on impending finals and the fast-approaching summer break. The editorial body of the paper is in a transitional period, with the current staff finishing their term and the new staff lacking a foothold. Also, unofficial faculty adviser Avis Meyer plans on taking a sabbatical next term, eliminating a trusted guide's presence on campus.
If the paper chooses to remain affiliated with SLU, its new charter would allow SLU administrators a final say over the appointment and dismissal of every member of The U News editorial board and staff. The resulting newspaper would undeniably be devoid of articles that reflect negatively on SLU's administrative policy; its staff would operate under a constant fear of dismissal should they choose to print anything that any SLU administrator considers cause for removal. What good is a paper that is afraid to print what should be printed?
Article III of the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics states that "journalists must be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know the truth." If SLU administrators have power over their fate, the staff of The U News would have an obligation not to its public, but to the watchful eye of those above them wielding total power.
This predicament goes beyond the concept of "freedom of press," even at a private university in the heart of the Midwest. Whether an institution is public or private, religiously affiliated or secular, students have opinions. Such opinions are manifest throughout SLU's urban campus. Fliers are plastered on bulletin boards and advertise fundraisers for causes sponsored by various organizations. During the annual "die-in," students protest war by lying down around campus. During abortion awareness week, the quad is converted into a cemetery.
After 85 years of publication, The University News has been given an ultimatum: comply with a new charter or move entirely off campus and change its name.
The timing of this ultimatum is no accident. Our student body's attention is focused on impending finals and the fast-approaching summer break. The editorial body of the paper is in a transitional period, with the current staff finishing their term and the new staff lacking a foothold. Also, unofficial faculty adviser Avis Meyer plans on taking a sabbatical next term, eliminating a trusted guide's presence on campus.
If the paper chooses to remain affiliated with SLU, its new charter would allow SLU administrators a final say over the appointment and dismissal of every member of The U News editorial board and staff. The resulting newspaper would undeniably be devoid of articles that reflect negatively on SLU's administrative policy; its staff would operate under a constant fear of dismissal should they choose to print anything that any SLU administrator considers cause for removal. What good is a paper that is afraid to print what should be printed?
Article III of the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics states that "journalists must be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know the truth." If SLU administrators have power over their fate, the staff of The U News would have an obligation not to its public, but to the watchful eye of those above them wielding total power.
This predicament goes beyond the concept of "freedom of press," even at a private university in the heart of the Midwest. Whether an institution is public or private, religiously affiliated or secular, students have opinions. Such opinions are manifest throughout SLU's urban campus. Fliers are plastered on bulletin boards and advertise fundraisers for causes sponsored by various organizations. During the annual "die-in," students protest war by lying down around campus. During abortion awareness week, the quad is converted into a cemetery.
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