And check over at Opinions for 100 Words on Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize Speech from the Right, by Tom McGlynn.

Yesterday, the Fenwick Review released their second edition in which they state they are the only publication on campus. As the other campus publication, we at the Advocate feel we must respond to some of the claims made by this journal.

As a self-proclaiming journal of opinion, the Fenwick Review does hold the right to free speech as is protected under the First Amendment of our Constitution.

However, at the Advocate, we believe this right comes with certain responsibilities, which include, first and foremost, respect. The Advocate is a publication that does not and will not tolerate hate based on race, gender, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, national origin, age, or disability.

Six years ago, the Advocate was born as a response to a discriminatory cartoon run by the Fenwick Review. The cartoon was a spoof on Allie’s “Fine by Me” shirts which depicted two men, a man and a woman, and two women in an effort to promote tolerance of homosexuality on campus. The Fenwick Review’s comic showed a woman and a man, a man and a man, and a man and a goat. The campus was so upset that Allies opted to wear the shirts again after SGA gave out the t-shirts for free. After witnessing this effect, the four original Advocate founders, Cassie Lo, Tim Dugan, Chris Dignes, and Tim Fosbury began to plan the Advocate as a journal that, as Dugan once said, is “leftwing, but not extreme. We try to show both sides.”

Indeed, today we uphold the Advocate as a progressive rather than solely liberal publication. And as our start suggests, we will also continue to uphold our original principles, even if that means responding to an issue that we believe is discriminatory against part of our campus community.

In the article, “Unrecognized Gal[l]antry: The Case for the Knights of Columbus,” the group ABiGaLe is singled out for its status as a Recognized Student Organization (RSO) as a comparison to Knights of Columbus which does not hold this status. The article however uses misrepresentative language including the often-considered derogatory term “queers” to describe the members of ABiGaLe. The writer also says “ABiGaLe uses their privileges reaped as [a] recognized student [organization] to force feed a culture of homosexuality to our Catholic campus” (7). These are the claims made by the Fenwick Review.

In the same article, the Black Student Union is also referenced as “reap[ing] the benefits of being a recognized student organization.” Though the Fenwick Review mainly points at the BSU for funding, the writer also makes the statement that through the group, the SGA “bears the financial burden of an organization that hosts racially divisive speakers.”

Furthermore, in another article, “The Crusader: Trumped by Truth”, the same writer who wrote “Unrecognized Gal[l]antry” makes the claim that “the absence of any school sponsored publication or campus newspaper, especially at a college that prides itself as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the nation, is nothing short of an embarrassment – to the college, the student body, and all Crusader editors and staff members” (4).

Because of our mission for respect, the Advocate cannot condone such claims. We urge our readers to also show their respect for not only all clubs on campus, but for all people on campus.

Thank-you,
The Editors

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The Advocate is published with support from Campus Progress at the Center for American Progress. You can find them at: CampusProgress.org