2008 Woodie Awards
SectionsOur View: Censoring goes too far
The Standard Editorial Staff
Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
If the university is going to take the time to designate "free speech zones," then perhaps those areas should allow free speech - just an idea we've been kicking around in the newsroom.
If F-bombs must be handled by a police officer, we should probably reevaluate what we want from our law enforcement.
A campus security officer and a police officer responding to this complaint is overkill, it's as simple as that.
Of course, use of the word certainly is a fragile subject. We had a lengthy discussion ourselves about whether or not to print the word in its entirety.
If you read the front page story today about the F-word, you may have noticed that the entire spelling was never printed.
We censored ourselves because we did not want a reader to take offense and ignore the rest of a very important story. Also, we didn't want to become part of the inevitable discussion that will come from what we have reported.
We don't want students saying, "Did you hear The Standard printed the F-word" instead of talking about the issue at hand.
An important thing to note of our decision is that it was purely our choice. We could print the word if we felt it was necessary, or even if we just wanted to. We definitely don't need someone to show up at our door with a firearm, telling us what we can and can't say.
This really isn't about whether students at the Bear Paw can say these kinds of words.
They can. It's protected.
These are rights, and we should be cautious of anything that is infringing on them.
If F-bombs must be handled by a police officer, we should probably reevaluate what we want from our law enforcement.
A campus security officer and a police officer responding to this complaint is overkill, it's as simple as that.
Of course, use of the word certainly is a fragile subject. We had a lengthy discussion ourselves about whether or not to print the word in its entirety.
If you read the front page story today about the F-word, you may have noticed that the entire spelling was never printed.
We censored ourselves because we did not want a reader to take offense and ignore the rest of a very important story. Also, we didn't want to become part of the inevitable discussion that will come from what we have reported.
We don't want students saying, "Did you hear The Standard printed the F-word" instead of talking about the issue at hand.
An important thing to note of our decision is that it was purely our choice. We could print the word if we felt it was necessary, or even if we just wanted to. We definitely don't need someone to show up at our door with a firearm, telling us what we can and can't say.
This really isn't about whether students at the Bear Paw can say these kinds of words.
They can. It's protected.
These are rights, and we should be cautious of anything that is infringing on them.
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