As student journalists, we are servants of the student body. It is our responsibility to inform our peers about issues affecting their personal lives, academic scholarship and political views.
Our personal credo will always be to discover and report the truth, regardless of the topic. This credo applies when writing news stories and opinion pieces, as well. We will express our thoughts – as students have an undeniable right to do so – much to the dismay of others. Adults can label our views tasteless, juvenile and even ignorant if they so choose; I’m sure their parents treated them similarly when they were in college.
Go right ahead, but first consider this. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote: “Each age must write its own books; or rather each generation for the next succeeding. The books of an older period will not fit this.”
That’s what we are doing; we’re writing our own books as we mature into adulthood. I don’t want to hear, “Well, when I was in school…” because guess what? Times have changed, and you are no longer the student. Let us, the students, write our own histories and set new precedents.
I attended the open forum on feminist issues and academic freedom on campus Saturday. Speakers from Jesuit universities across the country shared experiences where students’ rights were wrongfully restricted. One of the issues Fairfield professor Joy Gordon discussed was the pulling of The Mirror’s Orientation issue. She concluded that this unilateral action was wrong, as administrators “cannot reserve the right to act arbitrarily and without accountability.”
I applaud professor Gordon – who said “students should be respected and be included in the decision-making process” – for recognizing the importance of student expression with such statements. Though sexual expression and other issues are deemed taboo on Jesuit campuses, this does not mean they cannot be explored or published.
Once again, Emerson comes to our rescue. He wrote: “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.”
After the Orientation issue was ripped from the stands, The Mirror staff rightfully dissented and, in so doing, set a precedent for students across the country. The situation provoked a much-needed discussion about an issue that plagues colleges and universities nationwide. Students successfully countered an injustice, showing that our minds are not as useless and liquored as others may think.
I hope critics of Fairfield students come down from their high horses and give us the credit we deserve. I also expect that school officials will now think twice before jeopardizing our student right to free expression, which is sometimes our only means of defense against administrators’ iron fists.
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