Chris Forrer – for the Review. Let me propose a hypothesis: With the highly contested health care reform bill still going nowhere in Congress and his approval rating dipping lower by the day, President Obama decides he needs to gain more public support through the media. He gives the editor of The New York Times a call and says, “Hello sir, this is the President of the United States. I need to whip up some support for my administration. Seeing as I run the country and all, I think I should be allowed to run whatever I want in your newspaper.”
What do you think the editor’s response would almost certainly be?
“Mr. President, NO, YOU CAN’T.”
Seem far-fetched? It shouldn’t. Your very own Linfield Review fell prey to a similar scenario more than a decade ago. Then-ASLC President Devon Frenchko pushed for the right to run whatever he wanted in the Review, and former editor-in-chief Jennifer Jones refused. Eventually, Jones wore down and agreed to let ASLC buy a column that it could essentially fill with whatever it wanted. The result was the ASLC Notes.
An editorial ran in the Oct. 23 issue of the Review that described the editorial board’s dislike for this column and its desire to move it, cut it down or even get rid of it altogether. The board also asked students to write in with their personal views on the ASLC Notes and what its future should be.
In this student’s humble opinion, the ASLC Notes column is a load of crap and needs to go post-haste.
I have a lot of problems with the column in general.
First of all, the former president pushing for his own space in the paper is the most unconstitutional thing I’ve ever seen a student government try to pull. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution expressly prevents the government from doing anything to restrict the freedom of the press.
Refer back to the example about President Obama. What President Frenchko tried to do (and succeeding in doing) was to force the press to run his cabinet’s opinions, a direct violation of the First Amendment. For that, former President Frenchko, I call you a disgrace.
To be fair, Jones didn’t help herself any by caving into Frenchko’s request. She earns an equal slap on the wrist for allowing such a violation to occur. But I digress.
The second reason the ASLC Notes should get the boot is that it has devolved into a page-long advertisement for all the crap ASLC happens to be sponsoring any given week.
Look, you guys put up hundreds of fliers across the school and send out e-mails to every student on campus. Why, then, do you need to waste space in the Review that could be used for articles by student writers seeking to better their journalistic abilities and report on something that actually matters? Because that’s how it’s been since 1995.
Originally, yes, the column was a report on the Senate and ASLC Cabinet’s meetings and actions so that the student body could get a glimpse of the decision-making process, but it has devolved into ad space. Ad space has no place on the opinion page, as the Review’s editorial stated.
If ASLC wants to keep the student body informed about its inner workings, it could just send out copies of its minutes and new polices via e-mail or make them available online. Either way, it sure beats wasting valuable Review space, especially considering its recent downsizing from 16 pages to 12.
The final and most obvious reason the ASLC column has to go is that it’s not being read. As the Review editorial implied, not many people read them. So, from a strictly business standpoint, why keep it?
ASLC is paying for the space, yes, but if that space could be used for something that will actually generate interest, the column needs to go.
All right, I’ve put in my two cents.
Ultimately, it’s up to the editorial board and ASLC to decide the column’s fate. I would like to say, however, that I’ll speak to anyone who needs to be spoken to, whether that’s the dean, the ASLC Cabinet or whoever else needs convincing. And, if any valued readers out there disagree, which is entirely within your rights, shoot me an e-mail ([email protected]), and we’ll talk.
Live long and prosper.