Freedom of speech should be allowed in student journalism
The outrage over an article published in The Gazette, a student publication at the University of Western Ontario, on August 19, 2014 forced a lot of students to rethink their parameters of choosing a college to spend four years—or even more—at. The adverse response to this article titled “So you want to date a teaching assistant?” seems to suggest that colleges are becoming more thin-skinned by the day.
According to TIME, the union representing T.A.s called for the piece to be taken down for promoting sexual harassment and the university provost publicly reprimanded the paper for being “disrespectful.” The offending material was quickly pulled off from the paper’s website and the editors wrote a groveling, ritualistic apology, promising to report “on these issues in a more serious manner in the future.”
The article was all about tips that could possibly help a student to get the attention of the TA by standing out as a pupil of interest, asking smart questions and answering some dumb ones, dropping in at office hours. From how critics might see it, all of this advice would only improve the students’ performance in that particular subject so what’s the harm.
Another astonishing remark that the union said was that the piece had essentially been “a guide on how to sexually harass another human being.” Most likely, all the USC students who attended the Title IX presentation, a mandatory meeting for all incoming students each year educating them about sexual misconduct, among other things, won’t find it hard to spot a huge difference between ‘sexual harassment’ and taking little steps to make yourself look more presentable in front of someone.
American colleges are a global hub of knowledge with a contribution of $24 billion to the U.S. economy by foreign students during the 2012-2013 school year, 12% more than the previous year, according to trade group NAFSA, the Association of International Educators. Now, cases like this that suppress the students’ right to freely express their notions will gradually offset a lot of potential students. Also, barring students’ from discussing such topics in open leads to an atmosphere of superficiality and secrecy. Accepting all that’s happening around them without questioning is certainly not how our leaders of today would envision leaders of tomorrow.
The apology letter published for the Gazette’s Frosh Edition includes phrases like “lack of judgment”, “regret this mistake”, “removing the Frosh Issue from Campus”. This reflects how much impact the argument of an opposition to a frivolous, just for fun article can have. It’s a certainty that the topic isn’t one that has never been discussed before in college. Also, it does not mar the emotions, culture or beliefs of any individual in any way. So, removing the article from the magazine seems like a step too harsh to be fully justified.
It’s true that TAs are there to guide students through the class, but it’s also true that outside class, they are students as well. It’s absolutely okay to discuss these topics in public and views from both the sides are obviously more than welcome. What could’ve been a better way to put forward their argument against the article was writing another article explaining how they felt about the topic for the same target audience. After all, pen is always mightier than the sword.
The topics, the issues and concerns that really need to be considered are neglected due to the shift of focus to things that will not make any sort of a gigantic difference. Amidst the debates on putting five unconstitutional Disciplinary Charges on a student of University of Oregon on June 13, 2014 for cracking a four word joke and threatening a student of Citrus College with removal from campus on September 17,2013 for asking a fellow student to sign a petition protesting NSA surveillance of American citizens, the essence of freedom of speech and expression granted to students in college is degrading. Increasing sensitivity from the critics is stopping students from becoming the thinkers of today’s world.
So, laws that bring all the rules and policies related to the extent of freedom of speech and expression through journalism of all the universities should be revised so that no student in any college is getting a less fair treatment than he or she deserves. After all, there’s very little point to college if it doesn’t allow students to think out of the box.