Integrity?

I find it ironic that The Whit is so concerned with its “integrity,” (A Matter of Integrity – Oct. 6, 2005), after reading its Crime Log for the past several years. From what I can tell, you have made a mockery of your paper by taking issues as serious as campus crime and campus safety and turning them into a weekly lampoon. As first responders, Tim Minchner’s group works very hard to balance a learning environment’s needs with law enforcement and emergency response needs. They do not deserve the running gag in a “newspaper.”

You are certainly in your rights to turn what is purported to be a campus newspaper in to a mixture of news and ridiculing. But if you consider it to be a “newspaper,” understand that newspapers do not take regular cheap shots at important parts of the community. This does not even get into the issue of the impact such ridicule has on a victim’s decision to report crimes.

I would ask the President’s Office, Provost Office, Faculty Senate, Student Government Administration, all campus bargaining units and The Whit’s staff members who care about journalism and “integrity” to let the editor-in-chief know that the current “crime log” is not what we all expect from Rowan’s student journalists.

Derek Hunsberger
Alumni