To the Editor:

I am incredibly troubled by the e-mail I received informing me that the charter of the UNews is being unilaterally revoked by the administration and being replaced with a new charter for a new newspaper over which students would have considerably less control. I need not remind you of the importance of the UNews for Saint Louis University as an INDEPENDENT, uncoerced, and untainted source of campus information for the students and faculty, as well as an INDEPENDENT voice of the student population. This publication has thrived unimpeded in this manner for 88 years, as acknowledged on the UNews’ front page.

To suddenly suggest now that this campus institution which has served our population so well no longer has value and needs to be replaced is an insult to the integrity of the students and flies in the face of this University’s mission statement, which states, “The mission of Saint Louis University is the pursuit of truth for the greater glory of God and for the service of humanity…In support of this mission the University…Enables an academic environment which values and promotes free, active, and original intellectual inquiry among its faculty and students.” This administrative decision to control the press reflects the actions of a dictator. Were we not a private institution, this decision would be a direct violation of our First Amendment Constitutional rights.

I sincerely believe that many of your readers are just as upset about this news as I am, and I implore them to do everything in their power to prevent this usurpation from occurring.

Brian Hercule