The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

And So It Goes

“Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that limited without danger of losing it.” Thomas Jefferson

This weekend-perhaps, even, as you read this editorial-the Saint Louis University Board of Trustees may vote to rescind the charter of The University News, a student voice of Saint Louis University since 1921.

However, this vote would wholly contradict the desire of the student body, as well as a multitude of faculty and community members. On Wednesday, May 2, the Student Government Association senate effectively responded to numerous student e-mails, and unanimously passed a resolution to preserve the editorial independence of The University News. This resolution included a provision that asks the Board of Trustees to table the vote to rescind the paper’s charter until their next meeting, in the fall of 2007. The Faculty Council of the College of Arts & Sciences echoed this sentiment in a May 3 resolution.

What-or who-would cause the Board to consider nullifying the newspaper’s charter? A worthy question. On Monday, April 30, the editorial board of The University News met with Provost Joe Weixlmann, Ph.D., and Vice President for Student Development Kent Porterfield, Ed.D. After their adviser emeritus was persuaded to leave the room, students were informed that administrators planned to ask the Board of Trustees to revoke the organization’s charter at the Board’s meeting this weekend. Students were then told that they had two options: as individuals, they could attempt to start a completely independent, off-campus newspaper, without financial assistance and distribution rights, to be determined later. Or, they could join a new, university-sponsored newspaper, accepting a charter written by administrators, which was absolutely devoid of the editorial board’s input. Weixlmann and Porterfield made it clear that, though student input would be considered, no conceptual changes would be made to the administration’s new draft of the charter.

Though the new charter contained several viable clauses, it included changes that would stifle the editorial independence of the student newspaper. In part, it stipulated that all editors and staff members of the paper would ultimately be hired and fired by the Vice President for Student Development. The new charter would also remove responsibility for the paper’s charter from the Board of Trustees, an organization essentially free from administrative political bias, and place it under Student Development, which reports and responds directly to the demands of upper-level administrators.

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The administrators’ new charter stated that they recognized the importance of free speech and would not ask to see articles or editorials before publication. And they said that criticism of the administration would be tolerated.

However, the greatest violation of students’ trust in this situation-and, frankly, the greatest act of disrespect-lay in how administrators handled their proposed charter-changing process: Members of the editorial board called or e-mailed every day for three weeks to initiate dialogue about proposed changes to the newspaper after rumors of administrative discontent, yet administrators refused to meet until the last week of classes. Then, they delivered their sentence, making it clear that it was their way or the highway, with no middle ground, regarding the newspaper’s future. They justified the delay by saying that they could have refused to meet at all.

A university exists to empower its students. Would direct administrative control over the oldest venue for free student expression at SLU empower anyone other than administrators? Would it do anything other than provide them with an extra layer of control over student opinion and potential dissent? Not under an administration with a communication track record as abysmal as that of current management.

Last week, we revisited several examples of the present administration’s decision-making style: The graduation fee, FACHEX, the tuition increase, the yearbook fee, student leader stipends and the firing of student advocates like Fr. Doody and Fr. Barry, to name a few examples. Many of these substantially disappointing decisions were “spring surprises,” when administrators waited until the end of the year, or even the summer, to push through their policies, so as to face as little resistance as possible from concerned members of the SLU community. If the Board votes to rescind the newspaper’s charter this weekend, The University News will simply become the next casualty in a series of suspicious administrative decisions.

When will the secrecy cease? When will major decisions be made in the open and be subject to straightforward inquiry and debate? When will students share the determination of their own educational destinies equally with administrators?

There is a right way for administrators to approach change in student organizations: Include students affected by potential decisions from the very beginning, as soon as concerns arise. Do not simply subject student groups to alterations without allowing for their direct input. Instead, administrators must do everything possible to help the organization flourish. Encourage dialogue, rather than a litany of rigid, unilateral demands.

SGA and The University News are the last line of defense for students against potential abuses of administrative power. Whereas SGA represents student choices, The University News provides a forum for student voices. Although some administrators may not have faith in the innate maturity, intelligence and lucidity of its students, these student organizations do-they provide venues for legitimate student expression.

The University News is a valuable and successful learning lab open to all students interested in journalism at SLU. Essentially, it stands in for the lack of a formal, full-fledged journalism program. To successfully iron out typos and factual errors, the organization must continue to hold itself to high standards while maintaining an official adviser, developing a student practicum and attracting a bevy of volunteers. With the proper tools and resources, a student newspaper can rise to near-professional status.

If administrators truly wish to see the newspaper thrive, they will proactively court these aids, rather than privately prune the organization’s foundational document. They will foster education rather than alienation. They will promote the process of becoming men and women for others by servicing the forum for their opinions, not repressing voices and ideas. Thus, administrators, it is your responsibility to exemplify the Jesuit mission. Take the high road, be good role models and enter into honest and open dialogue with the students you serve.

And students, the newspaper is your forum-a public medium for your thought. Help us to keep it that way. Thank you for your letters. Thank you for contacting your SGA senators. Continue to contact the provost, vice president for student development and the president. Let them know that you consider this forum for both praise and criticism to be absolutely vital to the intellectual health of the SLU community-because we believe in the students, and we believe that the students believe in us.

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