Dear Editor,

I am writing to complain about The Beacon’s editor for the latest issue of your paper. Your article on TEDxSMCC was critical and way too novel for the context. Alex Serrano writing up an opinion piece on the event was inappropriate, and at times misinformed regarding participants intentions and hard work. An opinion piece was not the right way to go about this event. The facts, and hearty quotes, would have sufficed.

While it is nice to write about students who are having babies, and working hard, posting it under the article about Dr. Cox was tactless. This is where an opinion piece was needed, because it is a piece of news that brings controversial feelings and emotional to light. Announcing she was fired, so transparently, loses the care and compassion she deserves.  

Please consider these sensitive points in future papers and their composition, thank you, and have a good week. 

Sarah Goldberg

Editor’s Response:

Your careful consideration is appreciated.

As The Beacon is a student paper, the writing of students, including their opinions and interpretations of facts and events, is of the utmost importance. After reviewing Mr. Serrano’s article, there were no inconsistencies with his interpretations of Tedx SMCC and the event itself. However, since the column did not go into detail about certain aspects of the event, a follow-up article appears in this edition.

The second point was about the placement of the interview with Dr. Cox and the birth notices on the same page. As you may be aware, Campus News is a two-page section, so if these two articles were not on the same page, they would have been on opposing pages. Due to the size constraints of The Beacon, it is imperative that all student work finds space in the paper.

As for the nature of the interview with Dr. Cox, while we would not want to speak for her, we also thought she deserves respect. By telling her story, we sought to provide the respect she warrants as a vital member of this community.

We hope that you will consider writing for The Beacon. No single student’s ideas should dominate a democratic platform for students’ voices. We would appreciate your diligence in reporting events on Campus and beyond.