2008 Woodie Awards
Notes from the Editor in Chief: controversial headlines
Dylan Breslin-Barnhart
Issue date: 1/31/08 Section: Opinions
I've heard some complaints over the past week regarding the headline that appeared above last week's lead article, "Students resolve to make Sketch-nectady a distant memory." The writer of that article actually submitted her resignation from the paper in a letter she wished published this week. Initially I leaned against running it, thinking to myself, "would a newspaper really publish a note from a former employee who was trying to slam the door on the way out? Of course not!"
Nevertheless, her impassioned submission appears below. I ultimately decided that Concordy has a special obligation to the students of the college to publish virtually any opinions that are submitted to it in good faith as long as those views expressed do not target certain individuals or groups with messages of hate or other libel. A "real" newspaper answers to the certain vested interests that own it. Concordy, in my view, is "owned" by the Union student body and is therefore ultimately responsible to it. As such, the Editorial Board is in no position to deny publication of a student letter that is well-composed and persuasive, even if its content may reflect poorly on the newspaper.
While I will publish the former writer's submission, I do disagree with it emphatically which is why I write this. It may seem counter-intuitive that I would run a retraction of the headline in question [bottom of page] and yet disagree with the basic need for the retraction. Here's why the retraction ran: I personally think that the Union-Schenectady Alliance championed by Steve Walker and Josh DeBartolo is terrific for the college and the city and represents a step in the right direction towards overcoming the well-documented issue of crime surrounding the campus through economic engagement with the downtown. After only a few years the Seward apartments have completely transformed an entire side of the campus. I see Walker and DeBartolo's work as key to further incorporating Union College with the improvement of Schenectady. The last thing I would ever want would be for some dissenting member of the City Council or a group in Schenectady to use the headline in question to claim that Union students lack respect for their college's hometown. While I consider this scenario improbable, I think that the Union-Schenectady Alliance's work is important enough to warrant a retraction of the headline in the paper that distances the Alliance, the college, and its students from an unfairly negative outlook on Schenectady.
Which was the point of the headline: Union students are working to overcome negative stereotypes about Schenectady such as those embodied in the nickname "Sketch-nectady." I find it surprising and dismaying that certain individuals would choose to interpret the headline as some broad statement about what Union students think. Perhaps this says more about the detractors' own insecurities than the Concordiensis.
-Dylan Breslin-Barnhart
Nevertheless, her impassioned submission appears below. I ultimately decided that Concordy has a special obligation to the students of the college to publish virtually any opinions that are submitted to it in good faith as long as those views expressed do not target certain individuals or groups with messages of hate or other libel. A "real" newspaper answers to the certain vested interests that own it. Concordy, in my view, is "owned" by the Union student body and is therefore ultimately responsible to it. As such, the Editorial Board is in no position to deny publication of a student letter that is well-composed and persuasive, even if its content may reflect poorly on the newspaper.
While I will publish the former writer's submission, I do disagree with it emphatically which is why I write this. It may seem counter-intuitive that I would run a retraction of the headline in question [bottom of page] and yet disagree with the basic need for the retraction. Here's why the retraction ran: I personally think that the Union-Schenectady Alliance championed by Steve Walker and Josh DeBartolo is terrific for the college and the city and represents a step in the right direction towards overcoming the well-documented issue of crime surrounding the campus through economic engagement with the downtown. After only a few years the Seward apartments have completely transformed an entire side of the campus. I see Walker and DeBartolo's work as key to further incorporating Union College with the improvement of Schenectady. The last thing I would ever want would be for some dissenting member of the City Council or a group in Schenectady to use the headline in question to claim that Union students lack respect for their college's hometown. While I consider this scenario improbable, I think that the Union-Schenectady Alliance's work is important enough to warrant a retraction of the headline in the paper that distances the Alliance, the college, and its students from an unfairly negative outlook on Schenectady.
Which was the point of the headline: Union students are working to overcome negative stereotypes about Schenectady such as those embodied in the nickname "Sketch-nectady." I find it surprising and dismaying that certain individuals would choose to interpret the headline as some broad statement about what Union students think. Perhaps this says more about the detractors' own insecurities than the Concordiensis.
-Dylan Breslin-Barnhart
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