Page 10 / Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The Pendulum
The Pendulum seeks to inspire, entertain and inform the Elon
community by providing a voice for students and faculty as
well as a forum for the meaningful exchange of ideas.
Editorial
Student press freedoms should not be taken for granted
B . r 1 frU-.fr
SPJ meetings. When administration found out that
SPJ was harboring such a dangerous enemy as the
Quad News, they sent a letter to the group that stated
their status as an organization was in jeopardy.
This audacious movement elicited a response
Elon University's many student media
organizations exercise the right to print, broadcast
and stream all stories they deem newsworthy without
administration approval. We do not see this ability
as a privilege granted on the whim of administrators,
but an inherent right that is not questioned.
Unfortunately, there are other colleges that
believe freedom of the student press is optional and
not innate.
Quinnipiac University, a private school in
Connecticut, states on its Web site; “Quinnipiac
fosters partnerships among students and with
faculty; we are a spirited, welcoming campus.”
Quinnipiac, in addition to its friendly and jubilant
atmosphere, fiercely battled the school's weekly
newspaper. The Chronicle, after the paper began
putting stories online before they were printed in the
paper, a faux pas at Quinnipiac.
This rule was justified by university president
John Lahey in 2007 when he stated; “The electronic
version [of The Chronicle] would come out at the
same time as the hard-copy version so at least
dinosaurs like me who read the hard copy version get
an opportunity to read it before the external world
hears about it.”
This rule, besides the absurd reasoning behind
its establishment, is in conflict with the real world
demand for instantaneous news coverage and
society’s exaltation of technological progress.
As a result, several frustrated student journalists
broke from The Chronicle at the end of last year
and created Quad News, a strictly online newspaper
that was independent of the university. Quinnipiac’s
chapter of Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ),
which is a school-recognized organization, allowed
the Quad News staff to share on-campus space after
from the national SPJ chapter and was the subject
of a New York Times editorial, chiding the school s
unjustified actions.
While this rule has rightly been recalled in
recent months, Quinnipiac still has other regulatory
practices that inhibit the free flow of information.
Media organizations must go through the
university's public relations office before talking
to any school administrator. When Quad News was
first established, the university not only barred them
from campus but from contacting administration
members as well.
“Until about a month ago, the university wouldn’t
deal with the Quad News at all,” said Jason Braff,
editor-in-chief of Quad News. “They wouldn't talk to
us about anything.”
The heated battle has cooled — Quinnipiac
has relaxed its disturbingly strict regulations on
contacting staff and is no longer threatening the
status of the SPJ chapter. The editors at Quad News
have no intention of becoming part of the university.
“We're not trying to be recognized as an
organization, we are completely independent and
want to stay that way,” Braff said. “All we were asking
is that we could be treated like any other outside
newspaper."
Student journalists struggling with an outdated
and almost tyrannical administration is a foreign
concept to many of the recognized media outlets on
Elon’s campus.
“Our newscast is entirely student run, and that's
something Phoenixl4News takes great pride in,”
said Leigh Lesniak, senior executive producer of
Phoenixl4News. "Ethical journalism is expected and
demanded by the university, which makes for a staff
of thorough journalists."
Elon is a private university and is not obligated
by any of the laws that govern public universities
to allow free speech to reign. The administration
could demand to review every script of a Phoenixl4
and ESTV show before its broadcast, and require
appraisal of every edition of the Pendulum before it
hits the press. Instead, student media broadcasts and
prints with only the restraints imposed by its own
student executives.
“Elon may be a private university, but 20 percent
of the students are communication students,"
said George Padgett, associate professor of
communications. “Free speech is at the center of
what we teach.”
Quinnipiac is not the only university that has
subjected its student media organizations to
censorship, and the capability of that administration
to yank funding and disorganize student groups
is very real. It is important to recognize that Elon's
administration's belief in the professionalism and
responsibility of its student organizations when
others obviously disregard the importance of student
contribution.
College campuses are testing grounds for real
world ventures in journalism, government, business,
education and an abundance of other professions.
Universities, whether public or private, should allow
students to venture and boldly experiment with
thier chosen fields of interests, encouraging them
to succeed and develop even if student goals do not
match administration agenda.
Letter to the Editor
Homecoming theme misunderstood
Christmas season comes too
soon for some consumers
1 wanted to take this opportunity
to address some concerns raised about
the Homecoming theme in last week's
Pendulum Editorial. Let me begin
by explicitly stating that SGA never
intended to offend any member of the
campus or surrounding community. It
was never our intent to insult students,
faculty, staff, or others, and we
sincerely apologize if that was the case.
SGA took the necessary steps
and procedures in selecting the
Homecoming theme. The Homecoming
Committee itself is the most diverse
committee of representation within
SGA. It is comprised of a member of
each grade level, and a member of all
three councils on the SGA Senate. This
diverse representation of students is
mandated within the By Laws of our
organization. The committee spent
many hours developing the schedule
and theme; Phoenix Phiesta.
The committee chose the "Phiesta"
theme as it represents a celebration,
not because it represented a specific
culture. The committee consulted
and presented the Homecoming 2008
packet to El Centro de Espanol, who
helped identify a charity/philanthropy
group for the Penny Wars Event.
Through consultation with El Centro
de Espanol, SGA selected Centro La
Comunidad, a non-profit organization
which works to benefit the well
being of the Latino population within
Alamance County. El Centro de Espanol
and other programs on campus were
properly informed of the theme and
helped to offer advice, support and
critique to produce the Homecoming
theme and events.
Additionally, there was an
opportunity for all students, faculty,
and staff to come to the SGA Meeting
on September 11, 2008 to speak on the
contents of the packet before it was
voted upon by the entire SGA Senate.
We continually encourage students to
speak on issues that arise before SGA,
and welcomed comment on this issue
as well.
This can be a teachable moment
for our community. As an SGA, the
issues raised in the editorial last
week provides an opportunity for all
students and organizations on campus
to look at our thematic programming,
and to ensure that we are not overtly
offensive of any culture. While it will
often be hard to please every single
member of this campus, there are
certainly ways to ensure that future
programmatic themes minimize any
cultural insensitivity issues.
1 want to assure the student body
that SGA did not mean to offend any
members of our community and that
we followed proper procedure in
creating the Homecoming theme. I also
want to extend our apologies again
if any part of the theme did indeed
offend anyone. 1 encourage those who
are still concerned to visit our Senate
Meeting on Thursday, November 20th
at 7:30 p.m. in Moseley 215 to address
the entire Senate.
Chase Rumley
SGA Executive President
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and will not be returned.
As Wal-Mart customers shopped
on Nov. 1, picking through half
priced Halloween candy and
costumes that only 24 hours ago
had been hot items, faint music
from the overhead speakers started
putting them in a different mood.
That is because, a little less than
two months early, the store was
playing “Silver Bells.”
Most people hadn’t brought
their pumpkins in from the porch,
and they definitely hadn’t started
to plan Thanksgiving dinner. Yet in
most large stores, center displays
were all about Dec. 25.
Decking the halls early is no
new practice for retailers. After
all, the Christmas spending
season marks billions of dollars
in reliable income for retailers.
And with stock market woes and
employment worries, Americans
are likely to hold on to their
dollars a little tighter, making
advertisers’ jobs a little harder.
Even in times of prosperity,
stores displayed merchandise
months early. Before reliable and
fast transportation, Americans
would purchase winter coats and
presents by catalog months before
the leaves had begun to turn. That
allowed enough time for the order
to reach a factory by mail, be filled,
and for the product to be sent to a
customer.
That tradition remained even
after trucks, airplanes and phone
and Internet orders were added
to the mix. Consumers are not
surprised to see seasonal products
on the shelves before the holiday
begins.
Officially, the Christmas
spending season begins the day
after Thanksgiving, but one would
never know that by the candy
canes and mini Christmas trees
that stocked Wal-Mart’s shelves the
day after Halloween, '
The start date for Christmas
displays seems to have been
pushed farther and farther
forward, swallowing important
holidays in its path.
The day after children run
around the neighborhood as
superheroes and princesses, they
can go over their wish list with
Santa at almost every major mall in
America.
Thanksgiving has become
an afterthought. And it seems
that if retailers could find a
way, Halloween’s costumes and
candy would be combined with
the behemoth that corporate
Christmas has become.
It is understandable that
corporations want to get a head
start on getting customers in the
Christmas spirit, but they must
remember that it is very easy to go
overboard.
Our country has just spent an
outrageous two years gearing up
for a presidential election, and
by the end, nearly every citizen
— politically involved or not —
was sick of the commercials and
constant bombardment of political
views.
If it is possible to estrange
voters from the political process by
starting too early, isn’t it logical to
think that it would be even easier
to do the same thing for Christmas
consumers?
These are hard times for
retailers and consumers alike and
stores should be careful not to
push Christmas too hard.
THE PENDULUM
Established 1974
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Editor-in-Chief
Olivia Hubert-Alien
Managing Editor
Bethany Swanson
Adviser
Colin Donohue
Section Editors
Whitney Bessie, News
Andie Diemer, News
Margeaux Corby, Opinions
Shelley Russell, Special Projects
Jessica Dexheimer, Features
Alexa Milan, A&E
Michelle Longo, Sports
Camille DeMere, Online
Designers
Caroline Fox
Alyse Knorr
Leila Wal
Miriam Williamson
Business
Chris Dorsey, Manager
Chelsea O’Hanlon, Asst, Manager
James W, Lynch, Nat, Sales Rep,
Brian Mackey, Nat, Sales Rep,
Photography
David Wells, Editor
Lindsay Fendt.Asst, Editor
Copy Editors
Kaitlin Busch
Jennifer Clements
Victoria Doose
Lindsay Eney
Michelle Wilco