As alumni who worked on The Mirror during our time at Fairfield and learned of the destruction of the newspaper’s orientation issue, we are shocked that school officials would choose to censor speech rather than counteract it with a message of their own.
As an institution of higher learning, Fairfield’s stated primary objectives, according to the University’s own mission statement, is “to develop the creative intellectual potential of its students and to foster in them ethical and religious values and a sense of social responsibility.”
Perhaps that statement needs editing. In pulling issues of the newspaper, the administration acted to do the very opposite by stifling the creative intellectual potential of its students, not develop it. And how can a school foster a sense of social responsibility in undergraduates when, in a centuries-old tradition of authoritarian regimes the world over, it acts to silence, and not encourage, the only independent media entity on campus?
While it may be startling to equate the University’s administration with a totalitarian government, members of the administration must realize that they invite such comparisons on themselves when, time and again, they demonstrate reactionary, knee-jerk responses to The Mirror’s depiction of student life.
The columns cited by administrators in their decision to pull the newspaper this summer are by no means Pulitzer-worthy pieces of journalism. After all, they are opinion articles that reflect only the views of their writers, and not the newspaper as a whole. But any issues members of the orientation board or administration had with the newspaper could have been addressed in far more constructive ways than destroying it.
It is also worth noting that besides the offending two columns, the orientation issue was full of well-written, informative, and intellectually challenging pieces.
As vice president of student services, only Mark C. Reed has the power to pull copies of the newspaper. But that should only ever be done when it is an absolute final option, with a clear respect shown for the sanctity of that power. Anything less, as was apparently the case when former Fairfield employee Deirdre Eller destroyed copies of The Mirror back in June, shows a lack of respect for some of the very principles this school was founded upon – open dialogue, independent thought and, most importantly, tolerance.
Hopefully, Eller’s rash and destructive actions were an aberration and are not likely to ever happen again. Otherwise, Fairfield may no longer be the safe haven for free speech that we remember it as.
Sincerely,
Lori Rizzo, News Editor, 2000 Paul Pennelli, Editor, 2001 Matthew Thompson, Sports Editor, 2001 Donovan Wiedmann, Staff Writer, 2001 Frank Washkuch Jr., Editor, 2002 Allie (Moonan) Haynes, News Editor, 2002 Sean A. Hayes, Editor, 2003 Laura Walsh, News Editor, 2003 Stephanie Sierzputowski, Campus Life Editor, 2003 Ethan Fry, Editor, 2004 Keith Whamond, Managing Editor, 2004 Jessica Holmberg, News Editor, 2004 Gwen Nolan, Commentary Editor, 2004 Laura Pfeifer, Campus Life Editor, 2004 Steven Andrews, Editor, 2005 Ashleigh Egan, Managing Editor, 2005 Megan J. Mahoney, News Editor, 2005 Bryan Mahoney, Sports Editor, 2005 Tara Lynch, Editor, 2006 Kelly J. Sheehan, News Editor, 2006 Meredith Clinton, Staff Writer, 2006 Audrey Adade, Staff Writer, 2006
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