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Black Students Need to Fight Smarter

By Valerie D. White

The debacle at Kansas State University concerning dismissal of the adviser Ron Johnson for editorial content of the newspaper is pure rubbish. The adviser is not the culprit.

The editors of the Kansas State Collegian made a misstep when they failed to cover a newsworthy event in a timely manner. Mishap. Yes. Racially motivated. Maybe.

As a former newspaper adviser, I can give a few reasons why the story did not get published: the writer might have failed to meet deadline; the editors might not have deemed the event newsworthy; or possibly the editors just didn't care.

Whatever the reason and no matter how erroneous the decision, it was still the student editor's call. Johnson is not at fault. The Supreme Court says so.

The Black Student Union's request that the adviser review the newspaper before publication shows an ignorance of press law. The adviser must allow student editors the privilege of exercising their First Amendment rights without interference.

The BSU posits that the Collegian's history of racial insensitivity has Johnson as the "common denominator" because he has been advising for 15 years.

That argument is grossly flawed.

The editors are to blame and they must correct the problem.

It appears that they are trying with the recent appointment of a multicultural editor.

Therefore, are the mistakes made by the Kansas State Collegian racial or do they show ineptness?

The editors might be a C-crop of students. But the difference between the student newspaper and other classrooms is that the Collegian writers get to have their work on display -- A students and D students. This forum is where students learn the craft of journalism -- on the job, out in public.

Yes, the Collegian showed negligence when its editors failed to cover the Big 12 Conference on Black Student Government. Similar outcries were heard when the same thing happened when it was the Big 8 Conference on Black Student Government. But some black students have not learned anything about press law during the interim.

It's difficult to accept, but that's how the courts interpret the First Amendment. The students get to make the decisions, not the adviser. Removal of the adviser still leaves racist or irresponsible editors, who are the decision makers.

We, as black people, need to fight smarter. Activism does not only mean attacking whites when they are racially insensitive. It should extend to our own race when we are denigrated by us; when We perpetuate the stereotype.

Activism does not mean waging a short-lived battle and then returning to business as usual. It means that black students need to acquire the skills to become editors and then to serve with distinction.

Activism does not mean just complaining about the lack of diversity on the newspaper staff, it means doing something about it. If black students have to be the consciences of the publication, then so be it.

This may be an oversimplification of the problem because racism is so deep-seated in American culture, but it's a start.

Johnson might be gone for a few days, but he'll be back. He has the law backing him. What will the BSU have? Public ridicule because its members did not understand press law.

Valerie D. White is an assistant professor of journalism at Florida A&M University and is chair of the Black College Communication Association. She can be reached at [email protected]

Posted June 11, 2004