To the Editor:
This morning I learned that a group of Mirror alumni were signing a petition protesting the Fairfield University administration pulling a recent issue off the racks. I understand the importance and the value of The Mirror acting as an uncensored and independent media source on campus.
Although I thought the He Said column in question was indeed in bad taste, I strongly believe the administration made a wrong decision in pulling the issues off the racks and I signed the petition immediately.
That said, I also think that as the only independent and uncensored media source on campus, The Mirror has a responsibility to distribute news, entertainment and definitely some laughs, but not necessarily all of the garbage the student body might find funny. I’m definitely all for sarcasm, over-exaggeration and off-color humor, but is a column boasting about “pissing on dorm room doors” and wetting the bed really where The Mirror is at now? Can’t the voice of the student body be accurate and edgy without being classless?
Like a lot of other Fairfield alumni, I spent a ton of time with a fantastic bunch of drunken hooligans while I was there. We did things that we still talk and laugh about, and plenty of people peed in all sorts of inappropriate places. The stories were completely hilarious, reckless and probably portrayed the truthful nature of the college lifestyle very accurately, but I just never felt like The Mirror was the right venue to share those stories in. Just because we’re independent and uncensored and have the right to print pretty much anything, should we?
I’m proud of the time I spent at The Mirror, and I still enjoy (and respect) 99 percent of the stuff that’s printed today. I feel the current editors continue to do an excellent job, but they should be careful not to blur the line between real-life, edgy humor and real-life, tasteless humor too much.
There are plenty of places we can all go to find tons of hysterical, low-brow junk (and that’s the way it should be, because that stuff can be great). I’d just like it if The Mirror wasn’t one of them.
Sincerely,
Matt Thompson ’01
Former Mirror Sports Editor
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