Wednesday, October 22, 2008
I've never been this ashamed of the publication I've worked for before.
Every day I walk into Stauffer-Flint, the journalism building on campus, and see the First Amendment on the wall. My education in this field has explicitly covered my rights as a journalist. The government has no right to meddle in my affairs as a journalist and cannot influence or censor my work.
With that in mind, understand my feelings about The University Daily Kansan teaming up with Student Senate and University Relations, the University’s PR department, on changing the vulgar and tasteless chant that is yelled during the football games.
I couldn’t care less about the chant itself. What I care about is what is supposed to be the independent student voice on campus, The Kansan, folding over for the administration.
We receive no direct funding from the state, and in doing so, the administration forfeits all power over the editorial content.
So the voice of the students is signing on with the voice of the University. I want to make it clear that those are not the same thing. This is a public, state-funded university, and the University does not own the paper. Nor do they have the same agenda. One seeks money while the other seeks the truth.
This started out in a normal and what should be permissible fashion. All students received an e-mail from football coach Mark Mangino. While looking like a deer in headlights, he asked students to get loud and abandon the chant.
No complaints about this.
And then came something that in the newspaper world should not be permissible: a blatant PR piece ran as a front-page article in an independent newspaper.
The Kansan ran several articles that plainly stated that it was teaming up with Student Senate and University Relations to change the chant. New chants have been voted on at kansan.com, where readers were given five new chants to choose from — note how voting to keep the chant was not an option.
The real focus of this change is ticket sales, TV time and money, even though it has been made to look noble for a common student or ticket buyer. It's not about the students, what we want to say or what we think is permissible.
We are being led astray. And The Kansan is leading you there.
You know what this means? We are no longer allowed to make our own traditions unless they are approved by University Relations. The trend has just started.
And the worst part about it is the credibility of our newspaper is at stake.
This is no longer about a silly kickoff chant. It’s about a free and credible press.
As a newspaper, we are supposed to seek truth. Not once did I see an article that had data to show that this chant was found to be unacceptable by the majority of the student body. Not once did I see an article that even touched on this idea of collecting information.
We did what the University wanted us to do, which was to preach its moral guidelines.
This has no place in a news section. This is what opinion pages, pages like this, are for. If the University felt this way, it could’ve had a representative write us a letter, and we could’ve run it on this page.
Then a discussion could’ve commenced. And we could’ve seen what the student body really wanted.
There’s been debate as to what our university stands for, whether this chant is trashy and what our morals are.
But my question is, who defines what this university is all about?
Evidently University Relations, and you know who isn't going to be doing a damn thing about it — The Kansan.
— Stewart is a Wichita senior in journalism.
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Comments
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
Actually the Kansan does receive state funding from the Student Senate media fee.
The reason the University can't censor it comes from the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities Article 16: "The student press must be free of censorship. Its editors, managers and contributors must be protected from arbitrary sanctions (Art. 22--E) originating outside the student press."
But I agree it's not the Kansan's place to lead the charge to change a tradition. The Kansan should report the news, not create it.
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
Ownership. I couldn't have written it better myself.
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
relax. with the massive volumes of excrement that the UDK publishes daily, it is refreshing to see the publication take a stance that promotes something tasteful. it is strikingly ironic that it takes orwellian coersion from the administration for the UDK to publish an op ed piece that actually has some substance.
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
I'm pretty sure the funding The Kansan receives is a subscription fee. The Kansan doesn't just pay to print all those papers and give them out for free. Student Senate pays for the students’ subscriptions.
Second, you're right that this should be raked over the first amendment coals, but don't forget your responsibility to be an upstanding citizen. Have some courtesy. Our generation too often takes for granted the freedoms we have and neglect our responsibilities. Finally, as a journalism student you should pay close attention to the direction news papers are going. No one is the perfect image of a newspaper you have in your head anymore. News papers are acting more as watchdogs now. They report in a fashion that promotes what they think is in the best interest of the people (think presidential election, government corruption). This is considered the standard now. I hope in this vein The Kansan is doing what it thinks is right. I highly doubt anyone at the paper is doing this because someone in Student Senate wants them to.
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
Maybe (and this is a shocker) the UDK, like A LOT of other people (including students) thinks this chant is stupid and they're using their power(or, influence if you will) to change it.
Kudos to them.
Rock Chalk!
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
But wait, question for Mr. Stewart (I overlooked the fact that you worked for the paper - this decision to support discouragement of the cheer was by editorial majority?) THIS is the only thing you've been ashamed of? Because Sex on the Hill this year WAS pretty ridiculous and trashy... just like the chant!
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
if University Relations thinks that they can change what drunk students chant at a football game by having some ridiculous high school prom style online vote, they're sorely mistaken
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
Hermeschick, I don't work for the paper, but I'm pretty sure no one is putting them up to it. As you might be able to tell from this episode, not a whole lot of people get along with the paper well enough to put its staff up to anything of this magnitude. As for everyone else, the chant is awful. KU is not the first school to have this problem. Multiple football players wrote editorials at LSU when the fans started chanting obscenities that could be heard on T.V. Use your free speech to say something worth listening to, not to be vulgar and immature.
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
I meant to address swishmyjackass in the post above, clearly someone using his or her free speech for great purpose.
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
I would just like to say that I completely agree with you. I'm guessing this might be the first time you've heard that...
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
Come one people, let's wake up. Here is what it comes down to. The University wants to make more money by putting the game on prime time TV. They can't currently because of the chant.
So now, they are throwing up some BS about being classy?? When KU wasn't in the spotlight a few years ago, why weren't they trying to make us classy then??
One reason, money!!!
Ross, you are absolutely right. The newspaper should not be fooled into supporting a new chant under the guise of "cleaning up our image." The newspaper should have been honest: We're trying to help get the football games on prime time so athletics can make more money.
And by the way, student senate leans on the paper all the time. Last year, in fact, they were so upset that we didn't promote their agenda, they threatened to cut the paper's funding. Go ask your Student Senators about that.
Keep up the good work Ross. It's good to see that someone still cares about the integrity of this paper.
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
You ask for statistics, yet offer none of your own. Given the comments I would say there is a good chance the majority of the "Voice of the Student Body" would declare this chant a menace. Who cares what the motivations of the University are. I have my own motivations to end this chant that have nothing to do with TV money and guess what I'm a member of the "student body." If the paper was coerced, strong-armed, or forced to lead a campaign then I would lend some credence to your freedom of speech complaint. But then I would ask you to tell me how this article got into the paper. Isn't this anti-campaign? Shouldn't this be exorcised from print? No, because the Kansan isn't the sham you make it out to be.
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
LMAO! Are you serious aulyssesbenson? You think the University hasn't been able to get games on TV because of the chant?! Once again, show me some proof. The networks don't care about it, if they really don't want it on TV, then they'll mute it when it comes on.
I'm in total agreement with Ross by the way.
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
If I remember the reporting of the story correctly, I believe that Kansan editor Matt Erickson was the person who initiated the Kansan's campaign against the chant, not the athletics department, not the chancellor. Is it the Kansan's place to automatically disapprove of anything other university departments agree of? A free press can take either side of an issue.
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
The issue Ross is raising has nothing to do with the UDK's editorial endorsement of a campaign to end a chant. The issue at stake is that a free and independant press should not note its editorial endorsments as news, but rather as opinion. Though this position is a bit idealistic; the purpose of a newspaper, that intends to remain salient to its readers, is to present the news from a non-biased light, allowing the general public to confirm their own opinion based on those facts provided to them. The UDK should have written an article about PR and Student Senate campaigning to end the chant, rather than streaming an moral campaign on their behalf. Doing this gives them the same journalistic credibility as Bill Maher, Sean Hannidy, or Bill O'Reily (excuse my mispelling of their respected names).
The chant is ridiculous and irreverent; it should be stopped. The broader issue of concern is the role of journalism in reporting the freaking news, not evangelizing our morals for us like Stalinist Russia.
Stewart: Newspaper shouldn’t back the University’s demands
Abita, i'm not sure what you're commenting to me about, but I for one do not participate in the chant. I was merely making the point that if something like that is to change, it can't be from a canned "university sanctioned" contest. It must come 100% from the student body, and to be effective, it should be spontaneous.
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