Joseph DeBell/The Bona Venture
By The Bona Venture Editorial Board
“The writing process remains incomplete until your words are printed or spoken,” — Russell J. Jandoli, founder of the Department of Journalism and namesake of the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University.
Earlier today, the St. Bonaventure University Student Government Association decided that chartered clubs cannot endorse any candidate, neither those running for public office nor those running for SGA office. When David Scibilia, The Bona Venture’s Managing Editor, asked if this decision applied to student media as well, Abigail Docos, chief justice of the judicial branch of the SGA, said yes.
Any government control of the press beyond the narrow exceptions allowed under the First Amendment is both unacceptable and dangerous.
Arbitrary restrictions, such as prohibiting candidate endorsements, pose a legitimate and real threat to the independent, student-run integrity of The Bona Venture and WSBU 88.3 FM The Buzz.
It’s censorship.
The New York Times has endorsed presidential candidates since the 1860s.
“Things will go on very much as they have hitherto — except that we shall have honesty and manliness instead of meanness and corruption in the Executive departments, and a decent regard for the opinions of mankind in the tone and talk of the Government on the subject of Slavery,” wrote the Times’s Editorial Board in support of Abraham Lincoln on Oct. 11, 1860.
While some newspapers today choose not to endorse political candidates, they all have one thing in common: the ability to do so.
This decision strips our ability to publicly support who we, the student newspaper, believe to be the best candidate. And it strips all other campus clubs of that ability, too. Depriving the student body of informed political commentary is a disservice to Bonaventure.
Docos said today that she did not make the rule. Rather, the SGA judicial court enforced the policy after reviewing endorsement rules in response to a member of the Election Committee — which oversees and verifies elections, according to the SGA Constitution — endorsing a candidate on social media.
Docos and the judicial branch of the SGA have overstepped their power.
Docos cited two parts of the Club and Organizational Handbook to explain the decision. The first falls under the membership section, which reads, “No student will be discriminated against at St.Bonaventure University for reason of age, color, ethnicity or national origin, handicapping condition, marital status, political or social affiliation, race religion, sex or sexual orientation.”
The second falls under the advertising section, which reads, “No political advertising or candidate promoting, i.e. signs, fundraising, etc. will be permitted on campus property.”
While Docos wrote, “The language is clear, clubs engaging in political advertising or candidate promoting is not permitted,” in an email about the decision to presidents and advisers of clubs, The Bona Venture Editorial Board vehemently disagrees.
Endorsing a candidate for an SGA position — or a public office — does not “discriminate” against a student for any of the listed reasons. The prohibition of free speech surrounding those running for public office — positions that have the power to shape the university — is ludicrous.
The second section does not apply to the paper. An educated, well-written editorial cannot be viewed the same as a political sign; to do so would be a slap in the face to the Jandoli School of Communications’ robust faculty who commit their careers to the school’s promise to help students “become a true communicator and a communicator of truth, no matter the medium.”
In addition to this, The Bona Venture’s constitution, which has been accepted by the university, directly conflicts with SGA’s decision. The constitution reads, “The EIC [Editor-In-Chief] will have editorial control over the content published by the paper.” Allowing SGA to determine what we can or cannot print renders the position of Editor-in-Chief meaningless.
After 99 years of accurate reporting, The Bona Venture Editorial Board views this blanket decision as dangerous and against the very nature of ethical reporting.
“Democracy dies in darkness.” — The Washington Post
Bonavent@sbu.edu
