Protest shows dissatisfaction with student newspaper
By Jackie Zimmermann, Staff Writer
October 3, 2007 | 1:26 a.m.
Despite the small venue, a large statement was made by a group of students last Friday concerning what they consider to be their student newspaper, The Post.
The protest, held in front of College Gate, demonstrated student dissatisfaction with The Post, especially in regards to a column written by Chris Yonker earlier this quarter. The now-infamous column sparked controversy after it referred to illegal immigrants -- particularly those of Hispanic descent -- as “scum.” Although senior Nancy Robinson, an organizer of the event, is African American, she took offense to the article and wanted to insure the minority voice was heard on campus.
Robinson said she initially wanted to “take all the Post papers and throw them in the trash,” but she felt that educating her fellow students was a more effective approach.
“Plenty of people had no idea what was going on,” she said. “It’s so easy for the majority to overlook these issues. I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing.”
Members of the Latino Student Union also showed up at the event with a petition to have Yonker fired. Though the petition had several signatures, Robinson said she would like to see it move toward a more realistic goal.
“I don’t think that petitioning for Yonker to be fired is going to work," Robinson said. "I don’t think that the editors really care enough to fire him. I felt those signatures should be used to show the university that we should not be supporting The Post.”
Matt Zapotosky, editor-in-chief of The Post, stands by his writer and assured that Yonker will not be fired. “In a way, I am glad that Chris Yonker’s column and our columnists are provoking so much dialogue,” he said. “One of the functions of opinion pages is to provoke people.”
However, Zapotosky specifically stated that none of the Post’s columnists “write just to irritate people.”
“We would never just provoke to provoke,” he said. “That would not be a real ethical move.”
During Friday's demonstration, three separate Post employees stopped by at different times to voice their concerns. Even though they each expressed their disagreement with Yonker’s article and pleaded that students not judge the entire newspaper on it, Robinson had difficulties disassociating between the two.
“It’s hard not to judge the whole newspaper and the managing editors for letting that go into print,” Robinson said. “It goes beyond Yonkers and Joe Vance and it becomes, ‘What are the editors doing to say this is racially insensitive?’”
Zapotosky defends the less rigorous editing process of the columns and said he likes the “debate and discussion” they encourage.
“We certainly don’t try to block opinions,” he said. “The opinion page is a forum. You get into a gray area with columns where if you do real heavy editing, you might get in the way of someone’s voice.”
While Natalie DeBruin, the editorial page editor, edits the columns to improve structure and grammar, they do not go through the same “heavy editing” process as other articles.
Christa Preston Agiro, a third-year graduate student who helped Robinson organize the demonstration, hoped it would not only warn The Post about letting the opinions of 18- and 20-year-old students be used to educate their peers, but will also encourage the dialogue necessary to promote change. “I think [the demonstration] will get people talking and create more awareness and sensitivity for people of a different race or gender,” she said. “That's what I would hope for much more than getting Chris Yonker fired. The issue is far more complex than that.”
Though the protest was relatively small in numbers of participants, Agiro was pleased with the amount of attention it received. “Protests make people uncomfortable," she said. "They avoid them and walk on the other side of the street. I never expected so many people to approach us.”
While the Yonker article did act as a catalyst for the event, it was not the only reason for the demonstration.
“The Post’s reaction to the article was just the icing on the cake for the issues I have with them,” said Robinson. “The paper is really racially biased. It gets frustrating to constantly read a paper that overlooks you.”
Robinson’s unhappiness with The Post stems from numerous incidents, including her friend being referred to as “another black student” in a caption, as well as what she feels was biased coverage of the McDavis confidence vote last spring. Though the displeasure with the McDavis coverage was new to Zapotosky, he does not feel that it was biased. “I would definitely stand by that coverage,” he said. “The mood on campus was very polarizing, and we reported that.”