To the staff of the The Post and the university as a whole:
I am writing to express my displeasure with yesterday's Student Senate coverage.
For the record, despite The Post's heavy implications that the beverage at the center of my resignation scandal was something illicit, there was never anything but water in the cup. Bringing it into Walter Hall's Governance Room (where Student Senate meetings take place) was, however, in violation of a signed agreement prohibiting food and drink in the room - thus, my resignation. Within Student Senate, resignations happen several times per quarter, and the Conduct and Discipline Committee convenes regularly to investigate various incidents.
However, something far more unique than my resignation happened at Wednesday's Student Senate General Body Meeting, yet you wouldn't have learned it by reading The Post. Members of the Student Sierra Coalition and Beyond Coal gave a presentation in support of the establishment of an Environmental Affairs Committee on Student Senate.
This is an exciting idea that has been kicked around for many years, but had not been proposed in a resolution until Wednesday's meeting (incidentally, I was the sole writer and, as of Wednesday, primary sponsor of the resolution). Soon, environmentally-concerned students on campus will have a representation in student government like never before. Now that's news!
Joe Fox regularly reports the Student Senate beat, but doesn't seem to have an idea as to what constitutes news worth reporting in the Senate chamber. Hey Joe: Why cover a common resignation and ignore the real advocacy work that Student Senate exists for? Scandal may be what the people want, but it's not what the field of journalism needs.
At a time in which both Student Senate and The Post are trying to improve their images and legitimacy on campus, sensationalist yellow journalism on the part of the latter sets both back.
Matthew Wallace is a junior studying political science.
4 Opinion
