Welcome to Otterbein. Please check your First Amendment rights at the door. … Wait, what?
Regardless of whether or not the Otterbein Police Department is compelled by law to follow public records laws — which the editorial staff made clear is questionable last week in its news
reporting and editorial — student censorship is a bad policy. Period.
As an Otterbein alumnus and former Tan & Cardinal/Otterbein360.com news editor, I am appalled at the recent policy the university’s Police Department has chosen to implement.
Otterbein’s decision to stifle the expression of its students by censoring public information is not only violating fundamental democratic principles, it also hinders learning that is vital for students who want to pursue a career in journalism. Journalists gather, interpret and report the facts, and working with the then-Otterbein Security Department and Westerville Police Division is where I learned to apply these skills and sound editorial judgment that is absolutely necessary for the job.
Students need to be treated like the adults they are, and the student media deserves the respect that all other publications in the real world receive. I know firsthand that the editorial staff has always had policies in place that protect victims’ privacy and steers content to serve its purpose: to inform the Otterbein community and foster knowledge and the free flow of information. The university needs to let them do their jobs.
I commend the current staff for being a real voice for students, and I encourage the student body to petition the administration and express its opinions on this issue.
If Otterbein truly believes that its students have the right to openly express their viewpoints — free of administrative interference — Otterbein should include free expression privileges in the Campus Life Handbook immediately.
Fallon W. Forbush
Otterbein University,
Class of 2011
