One Carlos Mejia '08, managing editor of the venerable Dartmouth Free Press, wrote that he was "strongly disappointed" that The Dartmouth printed the names of finalists for the Dean of the College position last week ("Dean candidate names should not have been published," Feb. 26). Mejia's shock and sadness over the publication of this highly sensitive information was palpably clear, but the logic and reasoning behind his deep disappointment was less so.
Immediately after expressing his shock and indignation, Mejia writes that the finalists' names "had not previously been made public, and in fact [were] previously released to certain individuals only on a confidential basis, in order to protect the search process." OMG! So the information was secret? Oh, well if it's secret, a newspaper should stay well away! Obvi!
"Publishing this article," Mejia continues, "has now compromised the integrity of that process." Okay, wait. So, now that a newspaper has written about an ongoing situation, the outcome of that situation might be different? Stop the presses! Thank goodness the national press corps would never dare to cover any ongoing news stories like, say, wars or elections -- lest it influence the outcome of either.
According to Mejia, "Those three candidates for this position will now be subject to scrutiny from readers...." Scrutiny from readers?! God forbid! We certainly wouldn't want those silly, uninformed readers scrutinizing the decisions made up in Parkhurst! Decisions are made by the deciders, after all. And the rest of us should be content to read about the outcome of such decisions long after we might have any influence over them.
Writes Mejia, "Moreover, these candidates were probably assured that Dartmouth would keep their applications confidential -- The D has now denied them that protection." Let's think this one through for a second. Dartmouth "probably assured" the candidates it would keep their names private. Sure. Probably. Oh, I get it. So The D -- an independent, student-run, non-profit corporation -- should worry about what some Dartmouth human resources officials might have told some other people they might try to do.
Gosh. This suddenly reminds me of something written by one of Mejia's predecessors at the DFP. In an editorial printed in those illustrious pages in May 2005, then-Editor-in-Chief Liz Middleton '06 wrote: "And adding to the already tremendous concern is the fact that The Dartmouth is not held accountable by the administration for the content it prints." Different words, different times, but same sentiment. The D, Mejia and Middleton both seem to believe, ought to act more as a subservient branch of the College. It should respect the College's wishes, paint the College in a good light, and be "held accountable" by the College when it does wrong.
Interestingly, I've never heard a Dartmouth administrator utter such words. Though in recent years countless battles have been waged throughout the country between college administrators seeking to muzzle student publications and student journalists hoping to report without limitations, Dartmouth's leaders have been respectful enough of the press to leave well enough alone. Parkhurst seems to understand the importance of press freedom, and its occupants would not dare tell The D what to do.
Which makes it all the more troubling and confounding when it is, in fact, not only students, but student journalists at Dartmouth who seem to be advocating for censorship by the College and, even worse, who think the student press ought to be overzealously censoring itself.
Frankly, I really don't care who the next Dean of the College is. But I care tremendously that Dartmouth students come out of their four years with at least a basic sense of their rights as members of a free society. Now more than ever we need a press that asks questions, that aggressively seeks out and publishes information, and that does not care for one second that those in power may not want a story reported.
It is nice to think that Mejia is wiser than the rest of us and that he might make a better steward of the world's information and secrets. But "responsibility" is a word bandied about by despots who think they know better than everybody else. Frankly, the only things I think Mejia should be attempting to censor are his own misguided thoughts.
