More fact than fiction needed in stories

I became an avid reader of the Daily Wildcat this year, and I would like to comment on the lack of facts in some of your articles. Gathering some quotes together, and slapping it together with some prose is not considered a good article. Doing your own actual research, besides an interview, and showing multiple sides of an issue shows true prowess and dedication to the issue.

I’ve seen a lack of this, and after reading the opinions section it becomes evident that other readers do too. So, take it as a warning, and heed their advice. The readers want to see more fact than fiction and that’s the aim of good journalism.

Charged Butler University student on university censorship

My situation at Butler University could very easily be replicated on campuses all across the country if students don’t stand up and make it clear that is unacceptable for universities to attack students for expressing dissatisfaction with administrators. Let me explain. Butler University has become the first university in the nation to file a lawsuit against online speech. Campus administrators didn’t like the blog I wrote that criticized their actions, so they sued over it.

Amazingly (and sickeningly) they justified their actions by referencing the massacre at Virginia Tech, claiming that unless they acted they might be held responsible for a similar situation. Of course, I never once advocated violence of any sort — I said the dean and the provost made terrible decisions and lied and I presented the documents in my blog to demonstrate that the dean and the provost made terrible decisions and lied!

The national outcry was so great that they dropped the lawsuit but have now accused me of all of the same things in on campus disciplinary proceedings. Oddly enough, the president has written three memos to the faculty convicting me, talking about how he cares for the safety of students, and calling for a trial. I would have preferred the trial prior to the verdict, but that’s not the way Butler has decided to operate in this case.

Their actions against me are stifling free speech on my campus and run the risk of doing the same thing elsewhere. Unless we stand up together for the rights of students to speak out, we all might well lose those rights.