Queen’s University granted the sports section of the Journal, the school’s student newspaper, only one sporting event pass. In previous years, it has received eight passes, according to the Globe and Mail.
The Kingston, Ontario-based university denied the regular amount of passes to the paper after it published a story that questioned the voting procedures for the school’s recent athletic department awards.
After the story was published, Queen’s responded in a letter to the paper’s editor-in-chief, who also had written the story in question, saying the paper’s “privileged access” would be reconsidered.
It revealed the university’s ignorance of the importance of student journalism. Although the university reinstated the paper’s credentials subsequent of the backlash, there is an important conversation to be had here about student journalists and the roles they serve on campuses.
By denying school journalists access to sporting events, the school exposed itself and the athletic department to rumor and dishonest reporting.
Imagine opening the Indiana Daily Student only to find the sports section missing or no reporting detailing IU Athletics events. Suddenly, everything you hear about a sporting event is a cat-and-mouse game of true or false.
It was also, plainly, a poorly planned and self-destructive move.
They prevented the creation of sports culture and culture of spirit and pride within the university.
They denied themselves the opportunity to detail an important element of university and student life and made themselves seem dishonest and unfair.
These publications are what students read in order to relive the excitement of the previous night’s victories or to analyze the mistakes that caused a loss.
This reactionary move actually signals that the athletic department might have some big, scary, unethical ?skeleton hiding in its equipment closet.
In its haste to originally deny these students, they have forgotten they rely on students to begin with. Student athletes are attractions that pull in millions of dollars to universities. And, students have a right to report about indecent behavior in order to protect other students and members of the campus community.
If a school wants what’s best for itself, its athletes and the rest of the student body, as well as to manage a large source of revenue, it should continue to allow its students to report about the athletic department or any department, event or organization that is ?affiliated with the university.
The university’s refusal to interfere when the pass count was cut, in order to “protect” the athletic department, brings to light the fact that athletic departments seem exempt from any type of criticism.
Student journalists should be able to have an honest dialogue between the student population and the school. Both students and the newspaper need to work together to promote honest reporting, conversation and ?accountability.
