And the newspaper\'s response to obscene amounts of feedback:
In yesterday\'s Editorial/Opinion section of The Massachusetts Daily Collegian, a column titled "Pat Tillman is not a hero: he got what was coming to him" appeared. In the piece, graduate student Rene Gonzalez wrote about the death of former NFL player and Army Ranger Pat Tillman, who was killed during a skirmish in Afghanistan last Friday.
A flood of feedback has poured in, nearly all of which is harsh criticism of either Gonzalez\'s words or of The Collegian\'s decision to run the column. In fact, reader response has been so great that we would like to take this opportunity to respond to our readers.
Rene Gonzalez is a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts who occasionally submits columns to The Collegian. While his views in no way reflect the opinion of our editorial board or staff, we base our decisions not on whether we agree with the opinion of students submitting opinion pieces, but on the backbone of journalism: The First Amendment.
As a news organization, The Collegian lists the First Amendment as its most important value and asset. We do not hold back from printing news stories, columns or editorials that may upset our readership - instead, we seek to both inform and stir debate through our publication. Our decision to publish Gonzalez\'s column - an opinion piece written by a member of our campus community - is the only way for us to live up to this ideal.
One of the most important points that we at The Collegian want to stress to our readers is the nature of the Editorial/Opinion page. Not one columnist or student\'s opinion printed on our page represents that of the paper at large. Gonzalez\'s opinion is his own, and it runs under our pages as a single voice on our campus. The Editorial/Opinion page is designed to give a wide variety of students a chance to speak through a large-scale medium. With that comes the possibility of discourse and disagreement, and that is an accepted reality for us.
We would also like to draw attention to the fact that The Collegian has reported and commented on Tillman\'s death, and life, on a number of occasions in the last few days. Two columns written by editors on our staff have been published in praise of Tillman\'s life and his willingness to sacrifice it for what he believed in, including one column that ran on the page next to Gonzalez\'s. This was done intentionally, to display to our readers that we do not publish any opinion piece with more favor than any other - instead, we adhered to one of our missions: to create discussion, with dialogue on the merits of each argument.
The opinion of Gonzalez, though it dissented from that of the other two columns, deserved its space within the debate. Through the Web site feedback, phone calls and e-mails we have received, it has become very obvious to us at The Collegian that Gonzalez\'s opinion has caused a lot of controversy and frustration. We cannot, however, compromise the mission of our publication for the sake of ensuring the constant happiness of our readership. Gonzalez has just as much right to the opinion he presented as anyone else does, and we at The Collegian hope that this incident will foster a relationship with our readers that shows we are open to all opinions, not only the ones many people agree with.
We welcome all feedback on the issue, and hope that this represents growth in our relationship with you, the readers.
Sincerely,
The Massachusetts Daily Collegian Editorial Board
source:
http://www.dailycollegian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/29/4090744e398cd
I don\'t see how this opinion piece is a reflection of UMASS attendees.
It was an opinion piece written by 1 person. Understandable if you do not agree with the author but he is entitled to his opinion
what does umass have to do with this guys opinion??? obviously umass didnt agree because there was harsh criticism and what not...
Seriously Tony, you\'re gonna judge 15,000 students based on one article by one student? I\'m sorry that you have "lost respect" for me (a UMass alum) because of an article in the stupid Collegian. If you went to UMass, you would know that there are articles like this in the Collegian every day because kids get off on seeing how much anger they can stir up. It\'s meaningless. He probably made a drunk bet with his buddy that he couldn\'t get 500 people to respond to one of his articles, so off he goes. Don\'t sweat it, it\'s just one kid trying to get attention. There are lots of him in every town and at every school.
Originally posted by kindm\'s
I don\'t see how this opinion piece is a reflection of UMASS attendees.
It was an opinion piece written by 1 person. Understandable if you do not agree with the author but he is entitled to his opinion
you hit the nail on the head
Ten years ago my college paper had a huge negative response because a student wrote from a conservative viewpoint on a couple of topics. Then, as now the purpose of a student newspaper should be to expose the students to a variety of opinions while outlining the facts of the matter.
plus it helps to stir up interest in the paper
eh, the subject of this thread was a little harsh, I just flipped a lid hungover this morning when I read it, and then saw that Mr. Gonzales was a UMass grad student. wasn\'t meant to be perceived as a shot at all of UMass, especially the Alums. I apologize, and next time I will not be so ignorant. . .
I had heard abt this artucle and now having read it, what\'s all the fuss? He stated his reasons for feeling this way many if not all I find VERY valid. HE is correct in that the American propaganda machine works. I applaud Pat Tillman for showing the guts to throw away millions to enlist but was it a worthy choice ? Only Pat and his God know that. I wish every serviceman/woman who died in these worthless wars got even .0125 of the attention he did. That is what I find sad!
I cont believe it - abc channel 8 in ct is reporting on the contriversy caused by this article. Apparently nothing else is happening in the world. Here is a list of things that have not happened recently:
Apparently a bus didnt get crushed by a runaway bulldozer in columbia on thursday morning, killing 23 children on board, and injuring 36 others.
apparently there wasnt a major diesel spill in san fran pipeline on thursday that was barley contained, but not reported on.
Apparently The town of Orania, South Africa isn\'t trying to instate its new "White-Only" money, just TWO DAYS after the 10 years anniversary of the country officially put an end to apartheid.
Apparently The itialian government didnt pass a media law which allows prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi\'s control over 90% of television and allows him to acquire more newspapers and radio stations, of which he already personally owns three.
Apaprently A new law doesnt go into effect in Britian this week that will make sexual acts by anyone under 16 illegal. "Touching" is considered a sex act, and sexual touching, the Act says, includes doing it "with any part of the body", "with anything else", and "through anything". So, anyone who is under 16 in the uk and touches anyone else is in violation of this law.
Apparently there are no new updates in the fight on cancer such as the discovery that cancer cells to not die like other cells, but insteadcan live forever, leading to new avenues of treating the disease.
Apparently the Patagonian ice in San Rafael Glacier in Chile isnt going through a rapid reduction in size, due to historically high tempeture, which are completley unrelated to the ozone.
Apparently the rover Opportunity didnt complete its main mission on mars yesterday.
Apparently Afghan journalist Sami Yousafzai and his driver working for Newsweek were not secretly detained for six days.
Apparently Internet access is not still only available to government officials while at work and being monitored in cuba, and apparently the chinese government is no longer hunting down people that have go to web sites from outside of china and arresting them, as well as illegally shutting down any sites that link to or repost information that was origionally from sites outside of china.
and you dissagree about the american propiganda machine?
"We don\'t have to burn the books, we\'ll just remove them" - Rage against the machine
Colleges are liberal, bottom line. Oh and Mass., is the most backwards state in the union.
*This is not directed at anyone, its just my opinion on things.*
Originally posted by antbach
eh, the subject of this thread was a little harsh, I just flipped a lid hungover this morning when I read it, and then saw that Mr. Gonzales was a UMass grad student. wasn\'t meant to be perceived as a shot at all of UMass, especially the Alums.
Right on, I figured the subject was just an over the top thing for whatever reason.