To the Editor:
Censorship. It’s such a dirty word. Especially in the U.S. Especially on a college campus. Especially on my college campus.
On Monday, April 30, the Saint Louis University administrators informed the editorial board of The University News that a new charter had been created without any input from The University News staff. The board was given the option of (1) leaving campus and becoming completely independent, or (2) accepting this new charter. The minute details of the new charter remain unclear, but the conditions include the university would have the final word in the hiring and firing process of any University News staff writers and editor positions. The Board of Trustees may make the decision to retain or rescind the current charter by Saturday, May 5, at which time the administration will consider the ratification of the new charter.
As a junior here at SLU and as a contributing editorial writer, I find the above situation extremely disconcerting. Saint Louis University fundamentally exists for the sake of education. It is an institution of higher learning, a breeding ground for knowledge, new ideas and the marriage of both. If no other place in society can act as a forum where ideas are challenged, opinions expressed and people learn a college campus is this. We are taught inside the buildings across this campus that it is our right, our responsibility, to consider, to raise questions, to gain perspective and broaden our views on the world.
And yet, it appears that the administrators at SLU are trying to bottle that curiosity they advocate in the classroom, so that the questioning and the criticism only pertain to those things that are outside of SLU, to those things that do not offend or rub people the wrong way.
Vice President of Student Development Kent Porterfield’s response to several student letters is the diplomatic answer to the campus outrage this issue is causing. “I can’t stress enough that the changes we are suggesting are not in any way to try to silence the student newspaper,” he said in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article on Thursday. “It is about trying to create a stronger newspaper.”
I respect the concern of the SLU administrators for the improvement of The University News. I agree with the need for a newspaper facelift, but simultaneously, I question their motives and their timing. Since coming to SLU in 2004, this is the second issue that has been brought up during a time dangerously close to finals and move-out. In the summer of 2005, Fr. Barry and Fr. Doody were fired from SLU, which sparked outrage among the students of the University. But, the suspect timing saved the administration from having to deal with the brunt of the backlash of upset students. Final exams, beginning summer classes and jobs and spending time with families at home are all vying for our attention at the same time that the University decides to take such drastic measures. It begs the question, “Is this really coincidence?” and implores me to consider the possibility that the University is acting in cowardice.
The student newspaper is run by and exists for the students, and any interference of that dynamic by SLU administrators defies the purpose of this forum. In addition, the charter being proposed gives the University the power to hire and fire editorial positions on its own. This fact indisputably questions the motives of the administration-why are they working to ascertain more control over The University News? And, whether their intentions are good or bad, handing over the power of the student voice to the administration compromises the integrity and objective of the publication.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on Thursday that “Porterfield said he wanted student feedback on the changes, but added, ‘I don’t think it would be fair to say it is a negotiation.'” Since the students here will all be leaving campus soon, I would say it isn’t.
Aubrey Krekeler
Junior, College of Arts & Sciences
