Is the Cavalier Daily racist? In a word, no, though the accusation is levied annually by the black community.
This year's episode began with an Oct. 23 opinion column that called the Griot Society, a black organization, on the carpet for material on its Web site the author deemed to be condoning violence. The column was not a flattering portrayal of the organization. And while I have some complaints about the column, it was not racist.
The column itself was problematic in that columnist Anthony Dick did not give the Griot Society's leadership a chance to respond to his specific complaints. He wrote that certain quotes and pictures promoted violence, but then only included the following acknowledgement of the organization's position: "Griot Society Vice President Joe Obi assured me that his organization does not condone racial violence or segregation." Well, what does Obi say about those specific quotes and pictures? He might concede that they are problematic. Or he might point out the context in which they are displayed. Either way, it would have given the reader more information, and even if Obi disputed Dick's claim, Dick still could have disagreed with him.
It's usually an opinion column that starts off the annual We-Hate-The-Cavalier-Daily month. This is unfortunate, because if The Cavalier Daily were to censor every column that criticized something, its opinion pages would be worthless. Despite the problems present in the column, it did what a good column should do. It started people talking. It got people writing letters to the editor and guest columns. It prompted a dialogue. And that's a terrific thing.
Dick's column sparked the protest, and protesters called the column symptomatic of a larger problem. They said The Cavalier Daily doesn't adequately cover the minority community. Minority leaders cited concerns including a lack of coverage of the black community's events and issues, ineffective recruitment efforts of minority students and "defamation" of black student life.
Certainly, CD reporters should develop sources and get in tune with the minority communities, and not just the black community. They could stand to have more coverage about the Asian community, the Hispanic community, the gay community.
They could also have better coverage of the University's graduate schools, of the Engineering School, the Architecture School, the Education School, the Commerce School and so on. That doesn't make them anti-Asian, anti-gay, anti-graduate school or anti-engineering. It just indicates the need for more resources -- reporters -- and better allocation of the resources they do have.
A guest column that ran in the paper two weeks ago suggested a solution to the claims of ineffective recruitment: Form a board whose express purpose is to help attract and retain more minority students to The Cavalier Daily. The column suggested that the paper's success at recruiting be measured by how close it gets to a predetermined quota.
This proposal is absurd. The Cavalier Daily doesn't keep minorities out. It doesn't even hire anyone, except opinion columnists. It is a volunteer organization, and believe me when I say that the paper welcomes more volunteers. The job they do takes a tremendous amount of effort, and they can use all the extra hands they can get. As I said in a previous column, there have been numerous attempts in the last seven or so years to reach out to minority communities by attending meetings of the Black Student Alliance, the Asian Student Union and so forth. Few joined. And most who did quit. They quit because it just wasn't for them. And that's fine, but it's not The Cavalier Daily's fault.
And on the defamation count, readers should be aware that opinion columns critical of a person or an organization are not automatically defamatory. They are opinions. Also, I often hear complaints about "biased articles" running on the opinion pages. Opinion columns are not supposed to be unbiased, in that they should clearly argue one side of an issue. They should, however, be based on indisputable facts. In the last two months, I've seen nothing in the paper that could be characterized as defamatory.
All that said, I do want to point out a problem I saw with a story about Black Voices that ran last Thursday on the Life page. The story is the first in a series purporting to "exploring the value of cultural communications and those who cross racial boundaries." Although I am delighted that the paper did a feature about Black Voices, I am disappointed that the story became one of "look, Black Voices admits white people."
The fact that Black Voices does not discriminate is not newsworthy -- what else would one expect? Shall we write stories about the fact that anyone, regardless of race, can run for Student Council?
What is newsworthy about Black Voices is the fact that they are a large group that operates in a different manner than other groups do. The story mentioned that there was no sheet music at the rehearsal, but that people were harmonizing. Let's hear more about that. How do they learn the songs without sheet music? Do they make up their own harmonies? Let's have a real feature that doesn't just report on a minority group through the lens of racial tension. A series examining the crossing of "racial boundaries" would be better placed on the Focus page.
I've got one last thing to address, which has nothing to do with race, but with some unfortunate writing and negligent editing.
Tuesday's Arts & Entertainment section carried a review of the new First Year Players production. It started off, "It's that time of year again: Young men and women run amuck in colorful costumes, dancing provocatively and even singing aloud."
First of all, it's "run amok," not "run amuck." Second, the phrase isn't used correctly. According to Webster's, "to run amok," means 1) to rush about in a frenzy to kill, 2) to lose control of oneself and behave outrageously or violently, or 3) to become wild or undisciplined.
Good heavens. If that's what FYP is doing, someone better call the police!
(Masha Herbst can be reached at ombud@
cavalierdaily.com.)
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