Roundup Staff
Every year the Media Arts Department requests funding from the Associated Students Organization. Last year, the Media Arts Department asked for $12,000 and received $5,000. This year, they requested $12,000 and received $0.
One can only wonder what the motive is.
While ASO did grant money towards the annual Pierce College Photo Salon and Media Arts Speaker Series, the Roundup evidently shouldn’t receive the same.
However, the Roundup’s budget doesn’t fully depend on the ASO.
According to former ASO president Shani Simms, on May 18 top officials and Senate members approved the measure to penalize the Roundup for past articles that were critical of their organization.
“The reasoning for the cut wasn’t the result of a monetary issue, or how it affects the Pierce students,” said Simms. “It’s emotional based.”
Moreover, many in the ASO apparently deem our existence irrelevant.
“To me, [ASO] were saying the major, journalism, isn’t important,” said Simms.
The Roundup couldn’t agree with Simms more.
It is obvious that this is personal, and not business.
According to Simms, who was a member of the budget committee, most of the criticism toward the Roundup from the ASO regards a Fall 2009 article written about one of their meetings.
In a Dec. 1 meeting, current President Chris Suard played music and joked that it was “Kill an Infidel Day.”
As reported in the Roundup, when the songs were done playing, ASO Treasurer Amr Abushami gave his weekly report while dressed in traditional Middle-Eastern garb.
“It was an inside joke stemming from Chris [Suard] and his best friend,” said Simms, in the article. “Chris is a vice president who tries to keep things fun.”
These actions garnered flack from students, faculty, and staff. The Muslim Student Association condemned ASO’s actions with particular fervor.
The ensuing backlash stung the ASO.
These events happened.
We reported on them.
This is our duty.
With the power the ASO wields, their authority needs to be exercised professionally.
The student-run government has decided that the Roundup, which is mainly run by students, can’t criticize those in power.
However, because they are in power, they are open to the most scrutiny.
Pierce College is home to more than 23,000 students who deserve to know what’s happening on campus, whether it’s through the newspaper, magazine, or radio station.
It’s because of instances like the Dec. 1 meeting and the cutting of the Roundup budgets that most professional newspapers don’t receive aid from the government.
That being said, we are a college paper, and our funding does come from the government.
By reprimanding the Roundup, the ASO’s decision is an indirect attempt to censor the press, which violates the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Last semester, Los Angeles City College’s student-run newspaper, The Collegian, faced similar infringements after the president of the college, Jamillah Moore, deemed that some of the stories painted the administration in a negative light.
We as college journalists walk a fine line. It puts us in an awkward situation to have to, at times, bite the hand that feeds.
Rest assured, we at the Roundup will not be influenced by monetary power plays, and will continue to deliver the news in a straightforward and honest manner.
(Cartoon by Dustin Johnson)
