Jordan River Forum

There is a conflict of interest on the IDS opinion page, but the paper has not been up front with its readers about this conflict and the concern it creates regarding the opinion page. IDS opinion editor Travis R. Thickstun works as a paid intern for Bloomington city government in the city council office while he oversees the content of the opinion page, including who is hired as columnists and what letters to the editor are published, as well as official positions taken by the IDS in staff editorials. Indeed, the IDS has published two staff editorials during Thickstun's term as opinion editor that supported policy proposals of the city. On Jan. 31 the IDS supported the city's controversial plan for West Kirkwood while the IDS on Feb. 21 supported the city's attempt to put the ST Semicon site into receivership. I have been assured by the IDS that Thickstun recused himself from the votes on these positions and has made a significant effort to ensure that his position in city government does not affect or color his performance as IDS opinion editor. I do not doubt that he has done this and I do not question Thickstun's personal integrity on this matter. But this is a position the IDS should never have put itself in. The issue is not Thickstun's job performance; the issue is a clear conflict of interest that is in violation of ethical standards set forth by the Society of Professional Journalists. At the very least, the IDS has a responsibility to disclose to its readership Thickstun's conflict, but there was no disclosure with those two editorials, nor has there been to my knowledge any mention of Thickstun's position with city government as of the April 4 edition of the IDS. IDS readers, as well as the Bloomington and University communities, deserve to know the whole truth about the connection between city hall and the area's second largest newspaper. Scott Tibbs
Alumnus Lombardi column promotes stereotypes While Katie Lombardi\'s column ("Men Make Better Friends," Apr. 8) is clearly meant to provoke controversy, I remain dismayed that the IDS should waste precious paper space printing a column that is so full of generalizing and stereotyping assumptions about men and women and their respective social behaviors. I find particularly questionable Lombardi's implication that sexist male bonding (i.e., "over beer and porn") is preferable to less detrimental types of bonding (e.g., "mass-shopping trip to the mall"). Such misogynistic generalizations about women's social behavior can only complicate the self-esteem development of extremely impressionable undergraduate women who are still seeking their elusive identity ideals here at IU. Hiromi Yoshida
Graduate Student Protestors too graphic I am writing in regards to Pastor Matt Trewhella's letter ("Graphic photographs should be shown as reality of abortion," Apr. 16.) I feel that anti-abortion organizations should not be allowed to display such photos in public spaces for the same reason that one doesn't fart at the dinner table -- it simply isn't proper! Didn't your mother teach you not to post enlarged pictures of "murder" victims in the middle of a college campus? Pro-lifers should feel free to use such propaganda in their fight against abortion, but not without limits. The orange "Warning, not for the faint or weak of heart" signs that are posted around such demonstrations hardly provide the option of not witnessing the photographs, especially when they stand 10 feet tall and are displayed directly in one's path to class; they are unavoidable. Students are practically being forced to witness these controversial photos and that is wrong. My pro-choice sentiments on abortion have little to do with my opinion regarding this grotesque exhibition. I do not promote the public display of giant photos depicting impoverished, malnourished and/or physically abused children either, which can be a result of pro-life births in inadequate families. Pastor Trewhella has my blessing to pitch a tent alongside all the other protesters in Bloomington, but keep the photographs of the preborn out of my sight. Keenan Fennimore
Sophomore