“Is this a major student concern? One of the questions I have with the Loquitur, you say this is a student paper. I speak to students, I have students in here all the time-I haven’t heard of these things. I could be out of the loop. Are these burning student issues? Lottery is a burning student issue, housing is a burning student issue, and I hear that, I’ve heard it from students – I haven’t heard any of these from students. I will say that in the past I’ve had members of the editorial board come here and said ‘this is not an issue with the students, but we are getting pressures from other sources to pursue the article.’ And I’m just curious, is this pressure from other sources?”
– President Iadarola
Recently, this fair but from a journalist perspective an insulting question regarding the issues the Loquitur handles in its weekly editions was asked. The “burning” question that was put in front of us was: should the Loquitur cover hot topic matters such as the reduction in faculty and staff salary and benefits?
The answer is unequivocally, YES!
The doubt that was suggested in this question was the fact that the Loquitur is a student-run newspaper and thus would handle only matters relating to students. Although this is true, the Loquitur’s responsibilities also demand that all Cabrini matters whether it relates to students, faculty or administration should be considered and examined on how they affect the entire community.
The Loquitur is a forum for the entire Cabrini community and thus should continue to discuss stories like the faculty and staff salary and benefits cuts and the administration’s decision not to renew Dzik’s coaching contract alongside topics like housing and parking. Given the fact that the newspaper has the responsibility to write and investigate stories involving the college’s students, faculty and administration, the Loquitur will continue to do so until its unimaginable demise.
The question goes on to inquire whether an outside source has been encouraging the Loquitur to raise awareness and create spark over these issues. It is with good reason that the question be posed whether the Loquitur is receiving outside pressure to speak out about certain issues that are considered taboo since manipulation goes both ways when investigating an article.
The answer to this question is simply, NO!
In the Loquitur’s editorial meetings, the editors participate in open discussion over various ideas that will eventually become our lead stories. When we speak on a topic that could be classified as being dictated by an outside source, the real reason behind the Loquitur’s decision to write about it is to make ourselves a well-rounded paper.
We are a student-run newspaper but what that means is that we are students who are learning through practical experience the skills required for journalists in today’s society. We are not limited to writing the standard student complaints. Rather we are inclined to provide the campus with all events going on around them.
There are no hidden agendas to the Loquitur’s stories. We are a student-run newspaper that demands of itself the task to confront difficult issues without any bias. Our goal is to find the truth in the stories we write about it. The Loquitur has and always will strive to be more than just a student newspaper focused solely on student issues but rather on all issues that eventually affect students.
Posted to the web by Shawn Rice