Protect the University News

On April 30, Saint Louis University rescinded the charter of its student newspaper, The University News, citing poor quality and financial mismanagement as grounds. The administration then presented the non-independent newspaper with the choice of either accepting a new charter dictated by the University or moving off campus and becoming completely independent.

After an initial tempest of protest and a student government resolution, the SLU Board of Trustees voted on May 5 to give the administration until May 15 to revise the proposed charter with some input from UNews Editor in Chief Katie Lewis and Student Government Association President Andrew Clifton.

We find the actions of the SLU administration to be poorly executed at best and quite possibly calculated to give the school more control over the publication. For the betterment of the University News and the school as a whole, SLU should listen to its student government and postpone revisions of the UNews charter until the fall semester.

At the heart of the issue is the editorial independence of the UNews. The proposed charter places the SLU Vice President for Student Development Kent Porterfield in a position to veto the hiring of the editor in chief and the top editors. The charter also gives him the ability to fire members of the editorial staff. Although they may not be removed, "because of an expressed viewpoint, news article content, or editorial commentary," they could be dismissed if their published materials are "contrary to the mission and values of Saint Louis University." SLU is a Catholic Jesuit school.

Even more troubling than the potential for infringement on editorial independence is the manner in which the SLU administration is handling the situation.

In February the administration conducted an audit of the UNews without notifying the editorial staff until after the fact. The April 30 rescission of the charter occurred just as students were engrossed in studying for finals before leaving for the summer. The UNews had no prior notification that the administration was interested in writing a new charter and, prior to the uproar, had zero input on the content of the charter