While I recognize that the Recorder's right to publish is secured by the First Amendment and a broad range of judicial court decisions, I must say that I am offended by the decisions of the editorial staff, and Mark Rowan in particular, who was a member of the Task Force on Journalistic Integrity, a group convened to address issues raised last year by offensive material published in the student paper.  Their decision to publish a deeply offensive cartoon demonstrates their lack of understanding of how words can hurt and of how their editorial decisions to publish offensive materials can undermine the civility that should bring us together as a campus community.

I share the concerns of my Latin American colleagues and students and others for the hurt inflicted by the editor's decision to run this offensive cartoon. We learned from the work of the Task Force on Journalistic Integrity that there are clear limits about what a state-supported public university can do in response to such actions.  I believe, however, that there are some things we can proceed with as an institution.

1. We will expand our efforts to encourage a more diverse population of students to serve on the paper. Change must come from within, and it is my hope that students will teach students about cultural understanding.

2. I have been in consultation with Debi Freund, President of the Connecticut Association of Affirmative Action Professionals, about future programs that organization can bring to campus for all our benefit.

3. I take seriously the Task Force’s recommendation that the University hire a full-time faculty member to serve in both a mentorship capacity with student publications and a teaching capacity.  I have recommended to Provost Carl Lovitt that this matter be given immediate consideration.

4. Along those lines, I have also taken the Task Force’s recommendation that the University begin to offer a journalism major. I will again recommend that Provost Lovitt and the Dean give this serious consideration. I hope that the faculty’s widespread indignation at this latest event will spur their considerations of this curricular change.

5. I have spoken with Provost Lovitt about the possibility of adding a component on cultural awareness to First Year Experience courses, in an effort to ensure that all students understand what is at stake in a diverse community.

6. Dr. Lovitt and I both encourage faculty to take advantage of this issue to discuss it in its complexity in the courses, perhaps especially on Monday, Constitution Day.

7. Although we advertised infrequently in the Recorder, I recognize that the Recorder has created an environment counterproductive to our advertising aimed at recruiting future students, and we will no longer advertise our programs in the Recorder.

8. I urge that the Media Board and other existing oversight boards look further into making substantive, constructive changes in ameliorating the situation at the Recorder. This is not intended in any way to preclude anyone’s freedom of speech but rather to express my hope that the learning opportunities offered by the paper are turned to a better understanding of the audience for the paper, our campus community, which is richly diverse, and to a better understanding of what counts as good journalism.

Finally, as I explained to the many students I met with this afternoon, I welcome other suggestions for making Central a more welcoming community.
 

Jack Miller,
President
Central Connecticut State University