Journalists at The Falcon, the student newspaper of Seattle Pacific University are standing their ground after university administrators demanded they remove an article from the site’s archives about a suspect in an alleged assault that took place 10 years ago.
In 1998, Shakespear Feyissa was arrested as a suspect in an alleged sexual assault. While the charge was eventually dropped, Feyissa’s suspension from the university stuck. Now, Feyissa is a Seattle-based attorney and says the article has hurt him both personally and professionally.
The Seattle Times writes,
The 1998 article in the student newspaper, the Falcon, quotes Feyissa saying “SPU is still a school like the KKK, in my opinion.” It also quotes then-provost Bruce Murphy saying there was “sound reason to believe that Mr. Feyissa is a threat to persons on campus.”
With that popping up every time someone searches his name, Feyissa said he cannot escape the shadow of the accusation of attempted sexual assault, even though Seattle police closed the investigation and he was never charged. He’s also worried what people will think after reading this article.
Interesting. So now, even if the article were to be removed from the archives of The Falcon, the quotes would remain online through the Seattle Times — which has a much higher appearance when you Google Feyissa’s name. Smart move.
The students at the paper had an apt response to the university’s demand:
“We explained to them, if they wanted to start down a path of removing historical archives and pulling it from the public sphere, what they’re doing is censorship,” said Chris Durr, the editor at the time. “We basically said, sorry, we have principles in journalism that don’t allow us to put stuff in the memory hole and pretend it never happened.”
After all, the students said, it’s factual and a matter of record.
“Shakespear Feyissa may not like the story, but that doesn’t mean he should get to dictate what gets removed from a newspaper’s online archive,” Debra Smith, who wrote the original article, said in an e-mail.
If The Falcon were to remove the article from the archives, it would set off a string of events where anyone could request to have an article removed and the university, and, therefore, the newspaper would basically have to oblige.
Now, the university is essentially holding the paper hostage, because it is in need of a new server.
The administration replied that first it wants the Falcon’s editor-in-chief to sign a contract giving officials access to the new server, and affirming that SPU is the publisher of the Falcon and has final say over content.
The incoming editor has refused to abide by this demand, with good reason — it would give the university total and absolute control over the paper.
If the students wanted to publish an article that could perhaps reflect badly on the SPU, the school could nix it before it even appeared in print or online. It could even require the students to submit articles for review PRIOR to publication if it wanted.
What gets me is that this university teaches journalism, and teaches the ethics of journalism. Yet, when its students follow those guidelines, its quick to throw them out the window, perhaps making excuses for why it doesn’t apply in this or that situation.
To Seattle Pacific University: Practice What You Teach.
