Petition Demands Defunding of The Argus

, by Courtney Laermer, Molly Schiff, Gabe Rosenberg, Natasha Nurjadin, News Editors, Assistant News Editor, and Executive Editor

During the Wesleyan Student Assembly’s (WSA) open forum on Sunday, Sept. 20, members of the Senate discussed a petition calling for a boycott of The Wesleyan Argus.

During the Wesleyan Student Assembly’s (WSA) open forum on Sunday, Sept. 20, members of the Senate discussed a petition calling for a boycott of The Wesleyan Argus and the revocation of its student group funding. The petition will be the focus of a WSA-sponsored town hall meeting next Sunday, Sept. 27. This petition was sparked by a controversial article published in the Opinion section of The Argus last Tuesday, critiquing certain methods of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“The undersigned agree to boycott the Argus, recognizing that the paper has historically failed to be an inclusive representation of the voices of the student body,” the petition reads. “Most specifically, it neglects to provide a safe space for the voices of students of color and we are doubtful that it will in the future.”

The petition, signed by 167 students, alumni, staff and one Middletown community member as of Tuesday night, further lists five demands directed at The Argus. The boycott will include disposing of copies of The Argus on campus and insisting that its funds from the WSA are withheld until the demands are met.

These demands include commitment by The Argus to create work study/course credit positions; a monthly report on allocation of funds and leadership structure; a required once-per-semester Social Justice/Diversity training for all student publications; active recruitment and advertisement; and open space on the front page in the publication dedicated to marginalized groups/voices, specifying that if no submissions are received, The Argus will print a section labeled “for your voice.”

In accordance with the boycott, organizers of the petition declined to comment further.

“On behalf of concerned Wesleyan students we are boycotting the Argus until the demands are met,” organizers of the petition wrote in an email to The Argus. “Therefore we are not available to comment or be quoted in any article published by the same newspaper that we are boycotting for supporting institutional racism.”

Paul Singley, President of the Connecticut Society for Professional Journalists, said he believes that student publications should make a concerted effort to represent the perspectives of all students, but its First Amendment rights should not be threatened by publishing unpopular views.

“That’s what a good newspaper does,” he said. “It shares ideas, it shares opinions.”

WSA President Kate Cullen ’16 and WSA Vice President Aidan Martinez ’17 commented on the matter as members of the Leadership Board.

“Aidan and I ran last spring on the platform of bringing equity and inclusion to the very core of the WSA and furthermore, to every part of campus,” Cullen and Martinez wrote in an email to The Argus. “In this vein, we are supportive of the push for a more equitable and inclusive Argus…. We hope that the cries for change from the students of color community will move The Argus’s leadership to action.”

“We know it’s not easy,” Cullen and Martinez’s email continued. “This past spring, we initiated a complete constitutional and tonal restructuring of the WSA to elevate marginalized and historically unrepresented voices that we felt so desperately needed to be heard on campus. Through genuine and dedicated work, The Argus can make this change as well. And for this reason, Aidan and I stand in solidarity with the student of color community in their efforts to make their voices heard.”

Three WSA Senate members, including Cullen, have signed the petition as of Monday night. Currently, no official legislation to enact the demands of the petition is being processed by the Assembly.

“We have no resolutions on the floor or in the works at this time,” wrote Cullen in an email to The Argus.

The 2015 WSA Constitution is currently unavailable on the WSA website, but according to the 2013 WSA Constitution, the Student Budgetary Committee—which provides funds to The Argus every semester for printing and distribution costs—may require any organization receiving funds to report at any time, and reserves the right to reassume any funding allocated to a group before the end of the school year. The Student Budget Committee (SBC) is also constitutionally responsible for making recommendations to The Argus, among other student groups.

Tess Morgan ’16, co-Editor-in-Chief of The Argus, said that continued conversations with the student of color community, along with the suggestions of the petition, have led to new initiatives to diversify the newspaper’s staff, including SALD diversity training. However, she said, The Argus continues to have questions about the implementation of the petition demands.

“As far as work study goes, that’s something in the past we’ve had funding for, but that’s been revoked, so that’s completely up to the SBC to give us that funding,” Morgan said. “It doesn’t seem likely on their part that they’ll give it to us.”

Cullen did not respond to a request to comment on the process through which the petition might be drafted into an official WSA resolution, how the boycott would be implemented, or how the demands relating to all campus publications would affect Argus funding.

Michael Ortiz ’17, who signed the petition, explained the impetus behind his support.

“My concerns with the Argus currently regard mostly its commitment to representing the views of the campus,” he wrote in an email to The Argus. “….That the Argus chose to give this man somewhere to share his disrespectful opinion and to then have the Argus and its staff members defend the publication, hiding behind the argument of ‘well it’s not my opinion but he’s allowed to have it’ is frankly a great disappointment. The Argus’ publication of this opinion is a silent agreement with its content, and a silent agreement to the all too prevalent belief that black [and] brown people do not deserve a voice, and that we are not worthy of respect.”

Singley further addressed the trend of defunding student newspapers due to disagreement with editorial decisions.

“I think it’s a dangerous thing when you have the people that are controlling your purse strings determining what kind of opinions you’re going to allow to be shared in your publication,” he said. “You shouldn’t be second guessing whether you should publish something that you certainly have the right to just because you’re going to lose funding. That’s an unhealthy situation.”

Rebecca Brill ’16, co-Editor-in-Chief of The Argus, said that The Argus is committed to repairing its relationship with the community but that she is concerned about the precedent being set by the boycott of the newspaper.

“We would love to work with the WSA on how to achieve diversity, but editorial independence remains a huge priority for us,” Brill said. “There’s an important conversation going on right now about The Argus representing the voices of all students; it seems counterintuitive to censor the voice of a student expressing their views, offensive as they may be to some. We will continue to publish even if we are defunded. It’s our responsibility to cover news on this campus and to represent our community.”

This article was edited to reflect that the petition was influenced by an Opinion article appearing in last Tuesday’s edition of The Argus, and to reflect that the item in question is a petition, not a WSA resolution. It was further edited to update the number of signatories of the petition. A previous version of this article erroneously stated that the petition had been signed by faculty members. 

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Newer Comments  →

  • You die a jock-infested little Ivy, or you live long enough to become a parody of The Atlantic’s worst claims about censorship. #TeamArgus

  • Zeke the Plumber

    *flushes toilet on this petition and all petitions ever created*

  • Ken

    Sure hope that the petition is public so employers can know whom never to hire.

    • turnoffthenews

      Oh, Popehat…

  • Anonymous

    Can you please post the full text of the petition? Preferably also the names of the faculty members who signed it, but I’m curious about what they mean by “disposing” of copies of the newspaper. If they mean that they’re going to take all copies of the paper and throw them away, that’s a close cousin of book burning.

    • Ken

      Yes, if actual professors are advocating throwing away the free copies of a student newspaper so that others can’t read wrongthink, that’s something that a number of groups follow very closely. Perhaps those professors should be named.

      • JVW

        Named and shamed, though these days colleges are full of cowardly and useless administrators who will say nary a discouraging word to the social justice mob on campus.

      • Laura Egendorf

        They probably also support the BDS movement. The Black Lives Matter has a strong anti-semitic component.

    • SomewhereSomehowSometime

      Yes I too would like to see the full text.

      • Anonymous

        Apparently no Professors signed the petition, at least in the version I saw.

    • I’d like to see the departments and majors of those involved. I have a feeling there’s more Poli Sci and Worthless Studies with regards to this than Engineering and Pre Med.

      • Scott Jacobs

        I’m so not taking that bet.

    • Man with Axe

      Besides being theft and vandalism, and a brown-shirt tactic. Wait, am I allowed to say “brown?”

  • Anonymous

    “We demand that a free press report according to what we tell it to report”

    Do these people even realize what they’re saying? Or how asinine they are?

    • OldHighlandGuyOne

      Even if they did realize how asinine they are, they will never admit it. They will just rationalize it away.
      I am sick of whatever color lives matters.
      I have had it with hyphenated american names.
      PC speech just sucks!
      Send everyone to a FEMA camp and just be done with it already and then we will have time to read Chairman Mao’s little red book until our eyes bleed.

      • Anonymous

        PC speech isn’t speech. It’s about silencing others through mob behavior and bullying people into choosing silence over possible “offense”.

        And I for one refuse to spend my life living in fear. So if the PC police want a fight, rest assured they can always find one with me.

  • 2015

    Isn’t “the argument of ‘well it’s not my opinion but he’s allowed to have it’” the essence of the first amendment…?

  • QuestionAllTheThings

    Wait. Maybe this is a really obvious question, but —

    Why don’t you just have students write proper responses to this op-ed in the forthcoming weeks? If you have a strong argument, it negates the previous article with logic rather than forced censorship.

    Isn’t that how the free press normally works in this country?

    Calling for a “boycott” of a free magazine is lazy thought-policing and makes you look weak.

    • Dan

      Stop it, Stop it!!! Lalalala, I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you!!!!!!!1111!!!!!

      • John

        From a fairly recent encounter…

        SJW: Every 28 hours a black person is killed by the police.
        Me: How often do they kill white people.
        SJW: I don’t know. Why does that matter?
        Me: Because….
        SJW: Stop it, Stop it!!! Lalalala, I can’t hear you, I can’t hear
        you!!!!!!!1111!!!!!

      • Solo Atkinson

        Blacks are killed by cops more often than white, per capita. This is common knowledge.

      • John

        Men are killed by cops more often than women, per capita.

      • Solo Atkinson

        Do you think cops are trigger happy? That seems to be a point where left and right agree.

      • John

        Compared to military standards, some of these police shootings evidence a lack of “trigger discipline.” But I don’t really blame the individual cops for that. I think the lack of trigger discipline is a direct result of a lack of selection and training the cops are subjected to and provided with. That’s more on us than them.

      • Solo Atkinson

        It seems there’s a large gap between self-defense hero cop and jailable felon cop. It’s filled with a boatload of poorly trained incompetent trigger-happy scared cops. These guys need to be taken off the streets by their bosses. In Baltimore, there seems to be the political will but there might not be the competence at any level and you can forget about the resources. Until then, “brennen lassen”.

      • Solo Atkinson

        Americans are killed by cops more often than Europeans, per capita.

      • FlameCCT

        They operate by the motto: If in panic or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!

    • John

      Yeah. When I was in school we actually debated issues, and
      oftentimes you had to take a side you didn’t agree with. The sad part is that
      when they encounter a counter argument, they lack the skills to put forth any
      sort of rebuttal and resort to temper tantrums.

      • Scott Jacobs

        I’m not sure where you’ve been, but that really isn’t how things are done any more…

      • John

        And that’s the problem.

    • Anonymous

      Bwaaaaahaaaahaaaahaaaa – I bunch of black kids attending school paid for by scholarships and handouts from white people want to ‘defund’ a free newspaper that’s been around for a hundred years, because of some white kid’s opinion.

      “There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs – partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.” – Booker T Washington.

      Genocides happen, and this is exactly how they start.

      • SocialJusticeScientist

        I’m reeeaaaallllyyyy hoping you are a troll.

      • Anonymous

        What’s the matter? Affirmative action not working out as you hoped?

      • Angelina Cox

        Of course it did. Hundreds of thousands of black people are working in every industry, professional capacity and law and medical leaders, from the loading docks up to and including boards of corporations.

        And most got there without it.

      • John

        If “…most got there without it…” then we’re spending too much on it.

      • Man with Axe

        “Troll?” Is that one more way to say, “I don’t want to argue with you because I’m afraid. Instead, I will insult you in a way that people who think like me agree discharges me from any obligation to make sensible arguments.” And then, I presume, you will go out and destroy all copies of the Argus until you get your way.

      • Shang Tsung

        I think he’s saying that because JamalJenkum there is pretty obviously misrepresenting the issue as an issue of racism rather than an issue of the censorship of free expression. You can debate him all you want, but there’s really no point when one side insists on reframing the debate in terms of long-discredited racism.

      • Man with Axe

        I don’t want to fight JamalJenkum’s battles, but when a bunch of black people insist on getting their demands met or else, and one of those demands is space in the Argus for “marginalized people,” i.e., black people, that is where free speech and racism intersect. The Argus shouldn’t have to kowtow to these bullies. I’m not sure whether you are saying it’s a free speech or racism issue. But so far as free speech is concerned, the bullies are trying to deny it, and so far as racism is concerned, they want to use that charge instead of arguing logically.

        It is an ad hominem. “I don’t agree 100% with the Black Lives Matter movement.” “No? Then you are a racist. I demand you be defunded and sent to retraining camp, just like the Khmer Rouge used to do.”

      • Angelina Cox

        “Social justice warrior”, defintion: uninformed youth with no real occupation who roan the web looking for people to attack via internet lynch mob.

      • Anonymous

        Will you be involved in the next genocide?

    • FreespeechRD

      University students are leninist useful idiots that do what leninists tell them, like Animal Farm. Ironically they’re also ignorant and blind and intolerant, mindless, brainwashed slaves to bigotry, like most of the world, failing to realize there’s no such thing as “people of color” any more than “white” or “black” since all are the same color melanin, only differing amounts thereof. See “One Blood” at http://www.creation.com. There’s only one race, Adam’s. Such infantile, demanding babies, including fatuous faculty likely not actually working for a living, are clearly unfit for the real world, not having grown up yet. Don’t pretend that adults there who find out the childish, lawless, fascist, First Amendment-trashing threats made at the university will be endeared thereby in terms of wanting you as employees. Grow up.

    • Man with Axe

      Because we are followers of Mao’s cultural revolution. We are right, and any who disagree must be made to suffer. In fact, we are so certain we are right that we are afraid to hear opinions with which we disagree. We call those opinions “hate” whereas our opinions are “truth.” Says who? Says us.

      • Laura Egendorf

        Yep. Even 20 years ago, we understood that different points of view existed. If you are so fucking offended, publish your own goddamn newspaper or magazine. This is yet another reason I’m glad I no longer donate to the alumni fund.

    • John

      I makes them look weak because they ARE weak. Weak minded and afraid.

    • Laura Egendorf

      But, but social justice! These poor little snowflakes are oppressed!

    • Over-the-top

      Exactly! I don’t get why someone doesn’t write a counter argument. There’s no need for the student to apologize for his point of view.

      Making the newspaper more inclusive etc is another matter. I don’t know why it is linked to his piece. I am trying to be positive about this and thinking– maybe they wanted to use this opportunity to bring about changes to the newspaper, if in the past it wasn’t representing the student body well.

      Otherwise, boycotting or defunding seems an over-the-top reaction for an opinion.

    • Jen

      “Why don’t you just have students write proper responses to this op-ed in the forthcoming weeks? I”

      — the correct response to this issue!! Everything else is unnecessary drama.

      • Solo Atkinson

        Best comment on thread.

    • Anonymous

      Amen

    • Solo Atkinson

      “Why don’t you just have students write proper responses to this op-ed in the forthcoming weeks?”

      Best comment on thread. They’re students, after all. Still learning!

  • Anonymous

    Anyone who advocates for diversity on a college campus should be thrown out. They create an unsafe environment for intellectual inquiry.

  • Atticus Franklin

    So in providing a “safe space” it seems to be that the goal is to protect any ideology, movement, or belief system from criticism.or questions regarding the validity or efficacy of the same and to block newspaper funding to prevent any opinion or review that has been deemed harmful.

    I am happy to know that the next generation is busy establishing a general directorate for protection to ensure that we are protected from wrongthink.

    I assume that there will be a bonfire where all of the spare copies of the paper with the offending words will be burned, presumably alongside any other works that have been deemed “problematic”

    • Anonymous

      When I was young a “safe space” was the hole in your wall behind the faux Rembrandt.

  • Ken

    By the way, the Student Press Law Center has resources on student newspaper theft, and tracks it. http://www.splc.org/page/newspaper-theft-resources. That may come in handy. The paper should also have a plan in place to try to impose legal consequences on anyone stealing the newspapers. Meanwhile the paper’s leadership should reach out if they’d like the First Amendment Lawyers Association, the Digital Media Law Project, and a wide range of political, media, and legal publications to get involved and publicize conduct.

  • “Social Justice/Diversity training for all student publications”: Send them all to re-education camps to make them politically correct!

    • steves_59

      That’s certainly what it seems to be coming to.
      What a steaming pile of hooey.

  • The way to achieve “inclusive representation of the voices of the student body” is to suppress those voices which are politically incorrect. Orwell would be so proud.

  • Jackson Ulrich

    Can we get a list of the professors who signed this petition? I’d like to know which faculty members support “disposing” copies of and withholding funds from a newspaper that expresses views they disagree with.

  • Gubra Lagima

    George Orwell would love this school. When is the student government going to found the Wesleyan Ministry of Truth? You can pretend like these evil white folk never even existed! Isn’t that great?

  • Robert Melchreit ’18

    The fact that this petition has received 147 signatures is a disgrace to Wesleyan University and the Wesleyan Argus. The only facet of the petition that is even remotely ethical is the report on allocation of funds. Even that is rather pointless; most of the funding goes into the printing and distribution. All the authors, photographers, and editors work for free.

    The remainder of the petition is unethical at best and destructive at worst. Editors and authors would not be chosen for their dedication and writing abilities. Instead, they would be chosen based on the color of their skin. The petition supports the notion that students of color are incapable of having merits comparable to their peers, and therefore need special spaces designated solely for them. If I was a person of color, I would be livid at this condescending piece of legislation. It’s amazing that people who chant “Black Lives Matter” in one breath can demand handicaps for people of color in the next.

    “Diversity training” is a euphemism for indoctrination of the dissonant logic that generated this petition. People should not have to be “trained” to think a certain way. They should be convinced using rationalism, and if you cannot present your ideas in a convincing and rational manner, then you ought to reevaluate your ideas.

    Many people reading this article were not in attendance of the Argus meeting at which the petition was discussed. I was. The meeting was supposedly recorded. I hope that these audio recordings are released so that others may understand the guilt, duplicity, and blackmail that were used in presentation of the petition and directed at members of the Argus.

    The demands only exacerbate the two greatest problems that already exist with the Argus: its ideological homogeneity and low concentration of heavy journalism. For the record, let it be known that I, a Wesleyan student and potential future Argus author, will not be signing the petition.

    • Atticus Franklin

      Beautiful. It’s sad that some want us to devolve to a place where people are, once again, judged on the color of their skin, or their sex at birth, rather than the content of their character.

      • John

        EXACTLY. MLK is spinning is his grave.

        The BLM movement and their sympathizers have COMPLETELY lost MLK’s message.

      • Solo Atkinson

        Dont mix up speech policing (bad) with protests against police brutality against blacks (good). They belong to two different worlds.

      • John

        I agree with you, Solo. However, you and I are able to make that distinction. I suspect that the vast majority of the BLM movement cannot……. and HAVE lost MLK’s message.

    • Cliff’s Tux-table

      Perfectly said. Thank you.

    • Anonymous

      Wesleyan has been marginalized as an institute of higher learning. A graduate degree from Wesleyan has less value than a community college certificate of completion. It’s not a ‘school’. It is a liberal indoctrination center where leftists can get together to proclaim that their opinions are the only right ones.

      • OldHighlandGuyOne

        I’m beginning to like the way you talk, you are a real trouble maker and I like that, really.
        Go get’em Jamal!

      • Opinion Vs. Facts

        Looool at “Wesleyan has been marginalized as an institute of higher learning”.– your opinion? Go check out where all our graduates are. People are entitled to their opinions, but not facts. So go check the numbers.

      • Solo Atkinson

        It’ll blow over. Sophisticated readers know that a university community is a large place with diverse opinions.

        The institution only loses its reputation (or should) if the administration caves in. Political correctness is a deleterious side effect of a life-saving drug. Give the drug, fight the side effect.

    • Anonymous

      Any idea of how the recording can be posted? I’m hoping some enterprising future journalist will jump all over this opportunity.

      • Robert Melchreit ’18

        I don’t know who recorded it. I can’t imagine it’s been deleted, though.

        The Hartford Courant and Breibart News Network already ran articles about the petition, so the story does seem to be gaining traction.

    • Anonymous

      147 signatures among a student population of 3,200. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the protest by students.

      • Robert Melchreit ’18

        I never said it was, if that’s what you’re suggesting.

  • Natalie Dormer

    I was happy to see the president of Wesleyan stand up for free speech, especially in a time when more cowardly academics will not.

    When you stand up to SJW censors, they crawl back in their holes.

    • Anonymous

      Natalie, do you have a link to that?

  • cas47

    Please tell me that students at a fine institution of higher learning are not demanding censorship of the newspaper for publishing a viewpoint with which they disagree. The University must not cave to this intolerance. Maybe they should require that all students study the First Amendment. These students are an embarrassment to their school.

  • cas47

    If faculty members did sign this, that should certainly be made public, so that students can know that they should avoid them.

  • Anonymous

    When did students become such delicate little flowers that they can not tolerate disagreeable opinions?

    Toughen up, buttercup. If someone says something you think is wrong, tell us why. Give a speech. Write an opinion piece. Don’t demand censorship or defunding, or destroy newspapers. Those are the tactics of fascists.

    • John

      The students are only partly to blame. Students are now taught ‘what’ to think instead of ‘how’ to think critically. I say “now,” because essentially forever we’ve known that the young have neither matured mentally nor acquired the experience necessary to process complex issues such as this. So the education process was focused more on developing critical reasoning skills to be used later in life. Now what we’re seeing is more of an indoctrination process into leftist ideology, whereby they’re only given one
      side of the debate or one side of highly contested opinions. That’s just standard operating procedure for cults, and that’s what the left has become, a cult.

    • Steersman

      Absolutely agree. And it seems even Obama is coming around to that point of view as well – as indicated in this YouTube video. A partial transcript from Jerry Coyne’s website [Why Evolution Is True]:

      “The purpose of college is not just … to transmit skills,” he said. “It’s also to widen your horizons, to make you a better citizen, to help you to evaluate information, to help you make your way through the world, to help you be more creative.” ….

      “It’s not just sometimes folks who are mad that colleges are too liberal that have a problem. Sometimes there are folks on college campuses who are liberal, and maybe even agree with me on a bunch of issues, who sometimes aren’t listening to the other side, and that’s a problem too. I’ve heard some college campuses where they don’t want to have a guest speaker who is too conservative or they don’t want to read a book if it has language that is offensive to African-Americans or somehow sends a demeaning signal towards women. I gotta tell you, I don’t agree with that either. I don’t agree that you, when you become students at colleges, have to be coddled and protected from different points of view. I think you should be able to — anybody who comes to speak to you and you disagree with, you should have an argument with ‘em. But you shouldn’t silence them by saying, ‘You can’t come because I’m too sensitive to hear what you have to say.’ That’s not the way we learn either.”

      • And right after that the Coward in Chief was back whining that Fox News doesn’t say what he wants them to say.

        A coward posing. Nothing more. In fact, it’s these kind of people that are the parents of today’s infantalized snowflakes,

  • Hot Cosby
  • Anonymous

    I am not surprised some people still oppose freedom of speech. Thankfully 127 is not very significant.

  • Alum

    Ugh….”This is Why” I, and many of those I know in my class, no longer give to Wes. Place is too liberal and accommodating of such absurd motions such as this one. Enjoy your bubble while it lasts.

  • Anonymous

    Great ideas—of course, the space for “marginalized groups/voices” on the front page would presumably be for conservatives at Wesleyan.

  • Anonymous

    “The boycott will include disposing of copies of The Argus on campus.” I’m sure that was a much more effective strategy back before the internet, on which I’m reading this article from the Argus right now, existed. Instead, all it’s doing is drawing the attention of people like me, who would otherwise have never heard of the original article, to the stupidity of the signers of the petition. At least they should be easy to spot on campus; they’ll be the dimwits jamming tablets and laptops into garbage cans.

    The correct answer to speech is more speech. Censorship is cowardice.

  • Wesleyan Alum is Cringing

    This is so embarrassing. Come on guys, you’re making us alums look bad. This petition is a joke. This is what a good newspaper does. I’m sure if you wanted to write a response, you’d be welcome to.

    Please stop ruining liberalism for the rest of us.

    • A Smith

      Sorry, the Democratic party did that after the 2000 election and then 9/11 a year later.

      • You are an enormous idiot

        You’re right, I forgot about how the evil liberals did 9/11.

        Go away.

      • Shang Tsung

        Countdown to someone blaming this petition for the Iraq War in 3, 2…. oh well shit that got here fast.

    • Anonymous

      You could make your point well heard by not re-upping your annual donation. I find that tool to be quite effective.

      Because, yes. They are shaming the alumni.

    • Solo Atkinson

      Well put! The PC people drive me nuts. They’ve lost the thread of tolerance.

      Let’s leave Charles I and Cromwell to bury their own dead. Connecticut is supposed to be safe for everyone, not just Puritans.

  • Simon Au

    This is not the Wesleyan I went to. This article was posted in the Opinion section, not the Editorial. The Argus is right to defend the right to free speech, especially unpopular speech.

    • Anonymous

      So sorry to hear that. You’ll get a job soon. I hear there’s an Arby’s in Pembroke Pines, Florida that needs a new manager. You’ll need to go through their training program first though. If you pass the test, with your Wesleyan degree you’re a cinch for the job.

  • Spin
  • matt nyc

    Where can I find this petition? I’m very interest to see what faculty has signed it.

  • Tomas Jones

    In the words of the great American philosopher, Mike Tyson, “If you don’t like what I say, then why don’t you turn off your station.”

  • So many young and stupid will wake up one year and find out just just how worthless of a degree their $60,000+ per year bought. No one in their right minds will hire people so helpless and infantalized.

    • Anonymous

      A Wesleyan degree is worth less than the large fries and plastic toy that it should come with.

  • A Smith

    These students realize that, if they ever enter the larger world, they will be exposed to opinions and thoughts that are different than theirs?

    • Solo Atkinson

      Stomach it. That’s the long game.

  • Anonymous

    Note to HR…put Wesleyan graduates on the list of do not hire.

    • Solo Atkinson

      Obviously it’s only some of them, stop the groupthink.

      • Anonymous

        You are known by the company you keep. If morons set the standard for everyone, then everyone will be conseidered morons.

      • Solo Atkinson

        Too simplistic. There are lots of opinions on these campuses. There’s no need to consolidate them except maybe to make one’s thinking easier by reducing the number of variables.

      • Anonymous

        I live in realsville. I don’t have time to figure out who the morons are.

      • Solo Atkinson

        Meaning you would like to express an opinion, as we all do. And you certainly have the right to speculate.

      • KatelynsNana

        Then those who do not agree with this “group” should make their voices heard also, right? If they don’t, then they might be considered “in silent agreement” of this “group.” Isn’t one of mr. ortiz’s arguments (“hiding behind the argument of ‘well it’s not my opinion but he’s allowed to have it’) accusing the paper’s editors of having “silent agreement” with the views expressed in the Opinion section by simply publishing it? Those who disagree should protest just as strongly or be painted with the same brush.

      • Solo Atkinson

        Nonsense, a college is a bunch of disparate individuals, not a “team”. You’re thinking in collectivist terms.

      • KatelynsNana

        No. If the students are so dissimilar and unalike in thought and action, how is it the students who protested can gather such like minded individuals?

        There may be only “some of them,” so why can’t there be “some of them” who think differently and also gather support?

        But those who are not offended by an opinion piece are totally outnumbered, aren’t they, because there is no basis for comparison among the many “opinions” on a college campus?

        So, what, exactly is the reason for the student’s accusation of “silent agreement?” Anyone who does not come forward and agree with him? That kind of collectivist?

      • Solo Atkinson

        My contact at Wesleyan didn’t even know about it. His words about the calls to censor the paper: “Embarrassing and disturbing”. But also kind of trivial. It’s typical of a silent majority situation: noisy activists are noisy and get the press.It’s good to keep pressure on the administration so they stand up for freedom of speech. Administrations often follows the winds and they come out with very diverse statements. On the other hand, characterizing the opinions of students and teachers by a minority view they don’t share is sloppy and gives one a false picture. Incidentally, the Wesleyan activists are pushing the notion of collective guilt (“white privilege”) as much or more than some of the liberal-hating commenters on this site. It has a certain psychological appeal but it’s all bullshit.

      • KatelynsNana

        agree last sentence.

        Are you saying, then, that even though the activists’ activities have managed to reach mostly conservative media, most students on campus don’t know about it? Since, I guess, the controversy didn’t make it to the student paper, nor even social media?

        “It’s good to keep pressure on the administration so they stand up for freedom of speech.” Exactly the reason the “silent majority” should not be silent, nor silenced.

      • Solo Atkinson

        My contact is a professor. Maybe he gets his information from the library. In any case, one should not judge books by covers, which is what you’ll get on social media in many cases. Though it does give food for thought.

        “Exactly the reason the “silent majority” should not be silent, nor silenced.”

        Agreed. Also unpopular minorities, which is why I invoked Skokie in another comment. Niemoller was right on that point if somewhat overdone on the concept of collective responsibility. The important thing was that he took *personal* responsibility for his own previous anti-Semitism.

  • SocialJusticeScientist

    Ugh. This shouldn’t be about PC versus non-PC. Fuck political correctness. Do any of you realize how idiotic you sound when you refer to diversity training as negative? Do you realize how fucked it is that pro-diversity ideas are always associated with the left? That’s a problem. Being inclusive should be everyone’s goal.

    Being aware of the state of the world should have no impact on our political affiliation. You can be aware of all the bullshit and still be a shitty person with shitty ideas. And your shitty ideas should be shared so that less shitty people can argue and debate with you. And in the chance that you WAKE THE FUCK UP and change your mind that’s a victory, but if you don’t, then at least we know you are an awful person.

    Leave the funding, student newspapers are great. Op-eds are great (they expose the racists) and diversity training is great. Create a space for marginalized voices to be featured at the paper, let people write responses to the op-ed and publish them. But, seriously, a petition to de-fund? Outlandish.

  • Anonymous

    “That the Argus chose to give this man somewhere to share his disrespectful opinion and to then have the Argus and its staff members defend the publication, hiding behind the argument of ‘well it’s not my opinion but he’s allowed to have it’ is frankly a great disappointment.”—Michael Ortiz ’17

    It greatly saddens me that someone out there has such disrespect for the primal right to free press and free speech that this thought would ever cross their mind. What are you in college for, Mr. Ortiz? Because “exposure to different opinions and ideas” does not seem to factor highly. I am ashamed to be part of the professoriate.

    • KatelynsNana

      Out of all, that quote struck me as the most asinine ever of a supposedly young college adult. There is hope for some of our children/grandchildren, but I’m afraid they’re being outnumbered at a great pace by imbeciles such as this child.

    • Anonymous

      Thank you, Professor. Say it loud and say it proud. We may disagree but I will fight like hell for your right to say it!

  • The idea that the editorial was wrong, in the first place, should be debated. Man, that Atlantic piece was so right, Wesleyan has become “Coddled U.” We’ve entered the age of the Stepford Student.

    Thing is, BLM too often exacerbates, not solves, race relations, and that should be examined.

    Richard Sherman on Black Lives Matter

  • Anonymous

    With all these demands for “social justice training” … can we demand that these SJW’s receive “living in a free society training” … you could even spin it by calling it: “know your rights and responsibilities in a free society” … oops, methinks they will bulk at the responsibilities part.

  • Adam Long

    This is a disgrace that the WSA is attempting to challenge the editorial independence of ANY student publication at Wesleyan. For those who feel that the Argus does not represent the community effectively, why don’t you PETITION FOR FUNDING AND START YOUR OWN PUBLICATION?

  • Anonymous

    Why don’t these dopey kids who want to ban free speech just move to Russian or China… or better yet the middle east! ALL… that means ALL lives matter and this war on police needs to end! They have NO clue what they are demanding and the long term ramifications! Only a few police are bad – the majority are great public servants! These kids should have mandatory Civics, Constitution 101 and Bill of Rights classes by someone other than an IDIOT leftist shill! SO THEY WOULD KNOW THAT YOU DON’T INHIBIT FREE SPEECH!!!!!!!!!!! CENSORSHIP IS NOT OK IN A FREE SOCIETY!!!!!!!!!

  • LeLeMans

    You Special Little Snowflakes are pathetic. Don’t ever apply for real jobs, your fragile inner children will be terribly traumatized. (Do any of you ever look in a mirror and ask yourselves how you turned into such a bunch of p*ssies?)

  • Larry Bishop

    Races should not mix. This is just more proof.

  • LudicrousSextus

    Face it America – your children would stand an exponentially greater chance at ‘getting educated’ if simply locked in a library for four years – compared to the current intellectual levels on modern American college campuses…

    Consider that your ‘micro-aggression’ suppository for the day.

  • REMESSIS

    What the fuck is wrong with you people? I’m sick and tired of hearing over privileged white kids bitch about diversity or what ever the fuck else it is you babies want to whine about today. Please … PLEASE kill yourselves.

  • Daniel
  • Anonymous

    I am really hopping that all the school administrators are banging their heads on their desks reviewing their admission decisions in their heads.

  • TheSlot1942

    All you wank stain liberals should be shot directly in the face. You can’t take differing of opinions so you want all dissent squelched. To do such in AMERICA, especially while we have a bill of rights guaranteeing such dissent, is treasonous of the worst sort. Absolutely anyone calling for the defunding of Argus because they are butt hurt over an OPINION piece… particularly one that is spot on truthful, should honest to GOD…. be obliterated in broad daylight where ever they may be found.

  • Anonymous

    Democrats are proven fascists.

  • shining.genji

    “a required once-per-semester Social Justice/Diversity training for all student publications”?
    how can a student publication take a training course?
    don’t they mean that someone, or a group of students, perhaps the editors, have to take this “training”?
    is it just the editors, or everyone who takes part in the publications?
    but isn’t this manditory indoctrination required of students to take part in student journalism?
    what if a student refuses to take part? would that result in his or her being banned from taking part in the student Argus?

    • KatelynsNana

      The English language, man, gotta love it! It seems a more true fact these days where reading comprehension no longer matters, only what the writer “thought” he said, and what the reader “thinks” was said, and expects all others to form the same “interpretation.” cheers

  • Darin Clements

    Ah, yes. The typical leftist solution; shut down anyone who dares not walk in lockstep with them. Or is is goosestep? I forget.

  • CoryIntheHouse

    This is outrageous. These idiots should be ashamed of themselves.

  • shining.genji

    As bad as this is, it’s nothing compared to what happened to the Umass-Amherst Collegiate back in 1990, after it ran an opinion piece in which a student had the temerity to label the events that followed four LA police officers being found not guilt for badly beating Rodney King, a black man, “riots,” instead of the term preferred by many African-American
    and their liberal friends, “the Rebellion.”

    A group of black male students, armed with baseball bats, pushed their way into the Collegiate’s offices and refused to leave until their demands were met. They also threatened to assault some staff members.

    The administration refused to send campus police to dislodge the protesters and did nothing else to end the occupation.

    In the end, the Collegiate added positions to its editorial board for each head of a dozen or so campus student organizations such as their Women’s Center, LGB Center, Black Student’s Center, etc, so that basically the student newspaper wastaken over by the most powerful of the advocates of radical resentment on campus.

    I don’t know how long that situation lasted, or even if it’s still the case.

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