There's a bit of brouhaha over at Gustavus Adolphus College over the printing of an article, and the outrage that followed.Here's the gist: Gustavus has an unofficial tradition called "case day," in which participants attempt to consume an entire case of beer in 24 hours. Ill advised? Of course. Bad PR for the college? Perhaps. But it is what it is, and Gustavus remains a top school in spite of it.
The Gustavian Weekly, the campus' student newspaper, ran a feature on the tradition that included comments from various folks on and off campus who had something to say about it. And after it was published, student Mary Cunningham (and others, apparently) removed a bunch of papers because, it has been reported, they didn't want visiting prospective students and their families to get the wrong idea about Gustavus.
Minnesota State University's student newspaper, which sent a reporter to cover a hearing on the matter at The Weekly's request, ran this editorial denouncing Cunningham's actions and calling her out on this bit of irony: Cunningham, a standout debater whose speeches have espoused the merits of free speech, has apparently censored a newspaper that published something that offended her, according to Reporter's editorial.
Interesting stuff, to be sure. I'll be contacting the major parties involved in this and will hopefully get to the bottom of it all. Check the Freep's print edition for a full report in the next few days.
Apparently, Mary is a liberal Democrat.
ReplyDeleteLiberal or conservative, censorship is wrong. Now, I'm NOT SAYING WHAT SHE DID IS CENSORSHIP, because I honestly don't know and I haven't spoken with her yet. But I sure hope I can.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot worse things that GAC endorses that are hidden from donors and alumni. This is kids stuff.
ReplyDeleteMmmm ... Such as?
ReplyDeleteSee this story from The Gustavian Weekly's website:
ReplyDeletehttp://weekly.blog.gustavus.edu/2010/04/03/judicial-board-hearing-sparks-discussion-following-theft-of-weekly-papers/
I'm already on it. I've interviewed the student newspaper editor, dean of students, etc. Just waiting to hear back from a certain forensics phenom.
ReplyDeletethanks!!!
Mary is actually a very conservative Catholic and Republican. Get your facts right before starting rumors anonymously.
ReplyDeletegood stuff! I'd like to hear more about the history behind the day, and maybe some student opinions about what case day means to them.
ReplyDeleteMary did not censor anything. The papers were available for the student body after the close of scholarship weekend, and online. Last year admissions pulled them, and quite frankly, they should have this year. This edition of the weekly gives a bad name to GAC and poorly represents our student body. Mary had the good sense to take them off the stands, we should be thanking her not condemning her.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, treat her with respect, do not drag her forensics career into this. She has been incredibly beneficial to the GAC Forensics team and has helped to put us on the map. She is a fantastic competitor and I am proud to call her a teammate and friend.
kris is right about her being a great person, but she should have known better than to mess with a First Amendment right. She is NOT the administration so she would not have the same rights as they do to remove and effectively censor our paper.
ReplyDeleteShe lost the case, but apparently only has to do like 3 hours of community service instead of pay the initial fine.
Too many people at GAC are surprised by her losing the case. I believe that just because someone is an all-star debater and student doesn't put their ideas of what Gustavus should be above others. She "fought the law and the law won."
the results of the case are confidential and should remain such. You do not know the results of what happened, and if you do, you should have the decency to keep your mouth shut. while the hearing was public, the verdict is to remain between the parties directly involved in this case.
ReplyDeleteRemoving a stack of Weeklys from the grasp of some parents is completely different than censoring the actual publishing of the article. There were plenty of thing I did as a student which would not have impressed prospective students and their parents. Thankfully, only a few of those things actually made it to print! (I guess the police have to publish all arrests that are made!) Jimmy H.
ReplyDeleteGo Gusties!
How dare you bring her forensics career into this! She, as an individual, has been one of Gustavus' most successful competitors since the beginning of the program. Belittling her forensics career because of this is absolute ignorance. Learn about her events and her participation in the program before actually bringing that fact into this conversation. Larger than performing in this activity, is listening and learning from other competitors. She knows, as someone in forensics, the important of freedom of speech. How degrading to say any different!
ReplyDeleteSimply, she has the knowledge as to what is going on in the Gustavus community. She knew that easy-influenced individuals were going to be on campus at the time that the paper was available. She is the only person who DID something about it. Instead of the paper taking that into consideration, she acted as the responsible party to "tidy up" the campus.
She did not steal or damage the papers in any way. They were still available to the public in the same condition in which they were presented.
This isn't a censorship issue, this is an issue about how the campus presents itself to those who are not a part of the Gustavus community. Mary just did what she thought was needed for the campus.
As someone in forensics, she should know that to make a decision you need both sides of the story. In a persuasive or informative speech, you don't just give one side. You address the negatives as well, in order to make an informed decision. If I had been a prospective student or parent and walked in to find NO newspapers, that would have been suspicious to me, I'd have wondered what GAC had to hide.
ReplyDeleteAnd the papers were not easily available. They were moved to two dorm buildings, Prairie View and the International Center...two of the smallest dorms in terms of population on campus. These are locked buildings, so only a small amount of campus could get to them.
Just because one student or one group thought it was best for campus to hide this article does not give her the right to take these papers and hide them from the public. She wasn't just hiding this article. She was hiding an entire paper.
In addition, those two dorms are special in that you have to be a member of the Crossroads program or Pledge, further limiting the students who could see the paper.
ReplyDeleteThe worst thing about all this is that what they did was for the benefit of the prospective students. Admissions spends God-knows-how-much money to make us attractive to potential students. The Weekly is not a tool of the Admissions Department.
By doing the story timely about a topic that affected the students that actually attend Gustavus, it did its job as a campus newspaper. The Weekly is a campus resource, not an admissions brochure. Prospective students are important, but not more important than the current students whose tuition is being used to print the Weekly.
The person posting before me brought up a good point: "She wasn't just hiding this article. She was hiding an entire paper."
The Weekly isn't an evil corporation that tries to scare away high schoolers. It is a compilation of the hard work of editors, writers, and photographers. Not to mention all the companies that placed advertisements that week. It wouldn't be a bad idea for them to take action against the censorship too...
Can somebody explain to my why Mary's actions are not also considered free speech? I agree that taking the papers because you disagree with them may not have been the appropriate response, but I personally find the entire situation to be a bit hypocritical.
ReplyDeleteBecause Mary's actions may be interpreted as violating Student Rights she agreed to when she attended Gustavus, such as:
ReplyDelete"The right of peaceful protest is recognized within the Institutional community, but the Institution has the responsibility to assure the safety of individuals, the protection of property, and the continuity of the educational process."
"Students [reporting in student media as defined in the student handbook] have the right to report and editorialize on events, ideas and issues of the College, community, nation, world, even though they may be unpopular or controversial."
At least, that's the policies I see her as violating. (I have no idea what official charges were brought against her.)
Limiting one person's free speech or the freedom of the press is not considered a form of free speech. Saying otherwise would never fly in real Court, and didn't in the Campus Judicial Board.
As the person this is about I think a few details have been overlooked:
ReplyDelete1. The results of the hearing are confidential, but they are not finalized. Therefore, whoever wrote I am guilty is just wrong.
2. I was one person in a LARGE group of students. The Weekly only heard my name, and when confronted about it, I had an obligation under the Gustie Guide (our rulebook) to be honest. That does not mean I should turn others in. Therefore when asked about other names, I refused to answer.
3. This case was about moving 300 of the 1500 papers printed an released to students that weekend. They were on 3 other news stands throughout campus. Censorship involves totally cutting off the ideas of others. If you don't believe me, look up the definition. Or even better, ask someone living in a country where the news is censored. I think they would agree that really, this was a case of the readership holding the newspaper accountable.
Mary is right.
ReplyDeleteThe results should remain confidential, she is to be admired for her brave moral decision to not turn in others. Censorship of the press is, however, prohibited in the Bill of Rights.
Unfortunately, it's a matter of the college's pristine reputation against free access of information for the public.
Gustavus' reputation is wide spread, and I think that the scrutiny is well deserved. Binge drinking may be nation-wide, but it certainly shouldn't be glorified as it is currently at GAC--and not just on Case Day!
More important might be the search for the truth and attaining of wisdom are things that our society, something GAC should be able to help students with such goals.
Biceps strained under thepressure of the exercise and yet Sportacus did notbreak into a sweat. Bob is no longer a stranger tome and has made a new and exciting woman out of me.
ReplyDeleteulysses femdom stories
search nifty stories
gay teen boys sex stories
public square spanking stories
fuck stories free
Biceps strained under thepressure of the exercise and yet Sportacus did notbreak into a sweat. Bob is no longer a stranger tome and has made a new and exciting woman out of me.