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March 01, 2005
Editorial
The Oracle’s editorial policy is to accept all letters and print as many as we can. We chose a 500-word limit for each letter to best fulfill the above policy. We attempt to print every letter; however, when we are unable to, we first take letters that are most timely. We allow writers to exceed the limit only when exceptional circumstances arise.
In their Dec. 7 letter, CLA students Maisue Xiong and Colin Smith made serious accusations that charged Professor Martin Markowitz with silencing and ignoring their attempts to voice concerns over the way he was teaching one of his courses. They said in the letter that Markowitz avoided discussing racism and prevented students of color from making connections between topics and reading assignments. This was an exceptional circumstance.
Markowitz first contacted the Oracle three weeks before his letter’s publication. He was concerned that his side of the story could not be told in 500 words. His letter was originally over 3,000 words long. He cut it to approximately 1,400 words. After viewing the letter, Opinion Editor Tessa Reck and I determined that to preserve the entirety of Markowitz’s argument, nothing further could be cut.
Markowitz’s letter, as a direct response to Xiong and Smith, was the timeliest, and because of its length, we were unable to print other letters that week.
Our editorial policy is to provide each week a space where students can voice their opinions in a public arena. Students often have dissenting views, some of which can be perceived as inflammatory or hostile.
However, we cannot and will not engage in the dangerous practice of censoring viewpoints of any side.
As a newspaper, we are given freedom through the First Amendment, and if we are to most strongly uphold any principle, it must be that of free speech.
Lastly, I have final responsibility for the headlines on each letter. I admit that the headline on Jenna Witt’s
Feb. 22 letter, “Different races must follow the Golden Rule,” was ambiguous, and permitted an incorrect interpretation of Witt’s argument that not all races need to follow the Golden Rule. This was never our intention. For that I apologize, and I thank those that brought this ambiguity to our attention.
We encourage any and all who disagree with authors of published letters to respond with letters of their own.
Brian Voerding
Oracle Editor in Chief
Posted by msveum at March 1, 2005 07:30 PM
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