Two weekends ago at the Leadership Connect summit, I received a text message from a friend and former writer/photographer for The Stute in the middle of a presentation by Chris Shemanski. The message read: “Hey. There are stute [sic] thrown about all over castle point terrace (frat row).” Unbelievable. In the middle of Shemanski’s presentation (sorry, Chris), I left and headed over to Greek Row. When my friend said “all over,” I thought that there were simply some newspapers scattered around the corner where the newspaper rack is, but unfortunately, he really meant all over.
From the back entrance of Jonas to Delta Tau Delta, January 29 issues of The Stute, trash, and beer cans covered portions of the sidewalk. After throwing all of the scattered issues out — with the assistance of a pair of passersby (thank you) — and taking some pictures, I headed back to Connect. This past Saturday, when I began back to campus from getting a haircut, I walked up 9th Street and was happily surprised to see no Stutes strewn about the sidewalk on “Greek Row.” However, in this moment of relief, I was reminded of what I witnessed on my way to eat with a few friends before seeing the DeBaun Performing Art Center’s take on William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” this past Friday: another emptied rack of newspapers in front of the Edwin A. Stevens building. A new class of Delta Phi Epsilon sisters was chanting for what I assume was their initiation outside of EAS when I discovered the empty rack. Is there a correlation? It doesn’t matter.
Whether the emptied rack on Greek Row a couple weekends ago was a targeted attack on The Stute or some possibly drunk students’ idea of fun, the defacement of the newspaper is something that I recall as early as last year, when an individual or group (we’ll never know) routinely tossed Castle Point Hall’s rack of papers over their walkway “bridge.” Although I’m clearly identifying and name-dropping certain groups on campus, I am not suggesting that they are at fault. More recently, I know “Piskies” had used the newspapers for their painting and the American Society of Civil Engineers snagged a stack for their tower building contest. In fact, there is a distinct difference between ruining over 20 students’ work for this campus and putting the physical papers to good use, especially for a club event! Though, I would prefer that students ask for old issues instead of taking the current ones.
Just understand though, fellow students, we are paying for vandalism. The arguments to cut The Stute‘s printing costs down a bit or to zero have intensified since two years ago. In response, we turned The Stute and its online and digital manifestations 180 degrees. Students are allowed to like, dislike, do, or not do anything they want, period. They can open a dialogue with the Student Government Association or Honor Board, go to an event for food or company regardless of their interest in it … or throw their Student Activity Fees off a bridge or all over Greek Row. It’s great to have that choice.
