(This was sent out to students earlier today)
In response to the e-mail disseminated to students by Gilbert Gigliotti-
The recorder is not a club in the same sense that PSA, LASO, and others are. Its funding structure is different and its political structure is far different than any I have seen in any student clubs. Also, the political climate is very different as well.
Ever since the time of Mark Rowan, we have seen the continuation of a certain clique of individuals at the head of the organization that have all differed very little from his original line. As a former writer for the paper, this is clear in their continued sexist and racist content along with their decision to use Free Speech when it benefits them.
The current editor in chief, Melissa Traynor, was involved in several editorial decisions over the years and was present on the staff throughout all these crises, and to this day has shown us that the only change that has happened is in how the paper spins the stories.
Mr. Gigliotti is weighing in on this to sway your decision in favor of the newspaper because of his connection to it through the Journalism department. This is certainly as criminal - ethically - if not more so than the behaviors of the editorial staff of the paper. Gigliotti is using his position to attempt to put students behind a paper that is wrought with serious problems that begin with its structure.
What he does not say is that there is not outside influence from administrative bodies to make the paper change. All the influence is coming from students such as myself and you who are using our student run governing structures to affect change in a paper that has continuously attacked members of the student body. This is being done in a number of ways that do not set precedence on any level that can affect the sovereignty of student clubs. Student clubs are funded and regulated through the Student Government Association (SGA) which by the way is going through some serious political changes - if not outright revolutions - in a interesting development out of the political environment at CCSU over the past few years. Student media is financed and run by the Media Board which is an entirely different body which has the right to criticize the actions of publications. This sets no precedence for the invasion of sovereignty of other groups.
On a completely other topic, if a student group was to carryout such egregious actions as the paper has executed over the past three years, students would have the right to openly and politically criticize these actions in a very similar form to which this current struggle is playing out. By opposing this independent, grassroots political action, Mr. Gigliotti is opposing your right to free expression. As students we make our campus, we make its environment through our actions. The first thing we should do is ignore the opinions of professors and instead talk to each other and have these serious political discussions.
Also as a former member of SGA, the regulatory body for student clubs, I know that among all people regardless of their political perspective, there is an understanding and indefinite respect for the sovereignty of student clubs. THE SGA HAS NO ROLE AND CONTINUES TO HAVE NO ROLE IN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE RECORDER. Students that are organizing for change are bringing their voices to the Media Board meeting to be heard on the issue - which is indeed the proper place to air and voice those concerns. This does not mean that petitions or other political actions are attempting to remove the sovereignty of clubs through campaigning against the recorder, in any way shape or form. THERE IS NO PRECEDENCE TO BE SET BECAUSE THE MEDIA BOARD (MADE OF THE MEDIA PUBLICATIONS) AND THE SGA (RESPONSIBLE FOR REGULATING STUDENT CLUBS) ARE TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AND UNRELATED ENTITIES. The media Board even has an official complaint process that is part of its normal business. This is not a threat to sovereignty as some would like to present it as.
As students, we must talk to each other and develop our own political action that is independent of the influences and personal goals of the faculty. We make our struggles, we guide our struggles, we run SGA, we run the Media Board, and we can make our campus what we want it to be, what we think it should be.
As a result of my experiences writing for the Recorder, I became the head editor of the Devil's Advocate, a grassroots alternative student newspaper funded by the Progressive Student Alliance which accepts articles without censorship and continues its publications based on content and runs a regular blog. The Devil's Advocate also creates a space where serious criticisms and analyses can be brought to the table without the threat of removal or expulsion by an editorial board. Devil's Advocate is the central source for all criticism of the current media regime at the Recorder and the current political regime at central. You can read the blog online located here (we have print issues, but the school wont let us put them on stands! But of course, CCSU supports Free Speech - oh wait, they don't): http://ccsudevilsadvocate.blogspot.com/
Wesley C. Strong
860 916 2761
-----Original Message-----
From: Gigliotti, Gilbert (English) [mailto:Gigliotti@mail.ccsu.edu]
Sent: Wed 4/15/2009 10:00 PM
To: Students (ListServ)
Subject: Free Speech AND Student Sovereignty
Let's, for a moment, all pretend that this latest Recorder "crisis" is about one student's freedom of speech.
(This, of course, is far from the case, since Ms. Blaszko can in fact write for the Recorder anytime she wants; she just cannot serve as editor because she refuses to follow duly ratified policies that follow well promulgated professional and educational standards, but let's pretend for a moment anyway).
From the perspective of student clubs, students at CCSU should be very wary of the pressures being exerted from external forces (and, yes, that's the faculty who have signed the petition, spoken out publicly for Ms. Blaszko's reinstatement, etc).
The real danger to free speech is not Ms. Blaszko's losing an editorship, but all the clubs' losing the sovereignty of their decisions.
Would the PSA, WFCS, LASO, PRIDE, or the Sociology, History, or Art clubs, really want folks from outside that club (be they SA/LD, the President, the Provost, the faculty moderators, the University Senate, powerful alumni, or even other students) to have the power to overturn a duly executed decision by its membership?
If they wouldn't want that (and, golly, I hope they don't), students had better hope the Recorder doesn't cave to the pressure of the specious arguments that have been mounted against it.
If they don't care about their sovereignty, then the precedent for external influence will exist, and then student speech will be in real danger.
In the end, therefore, please remember that the Recorder, like all other student clubs, has a constitution that has been written and ratified by its members, and then vetted by the experienced staff of Student Affairs.
(Yes, folks, along with faculty experts in, say, JOURNALISM, on this campus, there are, in fact, professionals in the areas of student activities who research and write about such topics, attend conferences, and keep up on current case law.)
Perhaps those of us who can't say that about ourselves should just keep out of this.
Good night, and god bless!
(I was going to go "Good night, and good luck," but that was way too Edward R. Murrow-y, so I went Red Skelton-y instead)!
Gil
Gilbert L. Gigliotti
Professor and Chair
Department of English, Central Connecticut State University
1615 Stanley Street
New Britain, CT 06050
860/832-2759
860/832-2784 (FAX)
gigliotti@ccsu.edu
http://connecticuthalfwit.blogspot.com/
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3 comments:
Criminal, Wes? Really?
Wow.
The Recorder is a student club, not a curricular activity, and so my interest in its fate is far more connected to my position as advisor of WFCS, another student club, and as a founding member of the student Media Board than as chairman of the English Department.
You say I oppose free student speech because:
1) I support the legitimacy of a decision that the student leadership of the student newspaper made according to its duly-ratified (i.e., ratified by the student membership) constitution, and
2) I think non-members of the organization shouldn’t be able to overturn that.
You’re right, I’m a veritable Joe Stalin!
When you want non-members to start telling you how to run Devil’s Advocate, just let me know.
GG
This guy is a clown.
While you have a right to state your opinion Wes, I have a right to state mine. The head of the English Department has no connection whatsoever to The Recorder. The Journalism Department has no connection to The Recorder either. Two of its faculty members serve as Advisers to the paper, but the department as a whole has nothing to do with the paper.
Additionally, this case isn't a matter of free speech. It is, in fact, a matter of ethics. The First Amendment was written to protect citizens from censorship by the Government. . . not from other citizens or news organizations. This is why people are still able to sue for liable and slander. Ms. Blaszko was fully aware that if she publicly signed a petition and identified herself as an Editor for The Recorder that there would be repercussions. She was aware that if she publicly demonstrated for a political cause that there could be repercussions. She was given ample time to read over The Recorder's code of ethics and was given the opportunity to ask questions about it. She still demonstrated and still signed her name to petitions while she was working as a paid employee of the paper, despite knowing that members of the Editorial staff are not allowed to do this because it gives the impression of there being no objectivity in the paper and a conflict of interest.
While you would know more than me about the political atmosphere of the newspaper I still think that The Recorder was right to remove Ms. Blaszko. Yes, maybe it could have been handled better, but Ms. Traynor gave her several options as well as time to consider those options. Ms. Blaszko made her own choices and now has to learn to deal with the consequences. I fully support her right to appeal the decision, but I also support The Recorder's right to make the decision in the first place.
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