Spring Break
OP-ED:Punishment is not the way to improve our campus media
by Ben Douglas and Kevin Montgomery
Op-Ed | 5/1/07
Posted online at 10:57 PM EST on 4/30/07
/ Last updated at 7:02 AM EST on 4/30/07
To anyone whose feelings were hurt or who felt victimized by the BlackJerry advertisement, we are truly and deeply sorry. The intended target of the ad was racism itself, and we did not make this adequately clear. The final product did not clearly convey the message we were trying to send: that stereotypes are horrifying and unfair to the people upon whom they are forced.
We, as a humor magazine, attempt to address relevant and important issues through comedy. Was this the best example of that? Clearly not. Sometimes the controversy surrounding difficult issues makes us accidentally slip into a territory that deeply hurts many individuals. We never expected the community to take our magazine seriously-we are a humor magazine. This is the exact opposite of what we were trying to achieve.
But no one ever bothered to talk to anyone from Gravity magazine about the article. Our e-mail inbox for comments was empty; the Brandeis Black Student Organization did not inform our E-board that they were going to have a meeting regarding the issue. Following the meeting, Union members gathered a group of students from the BBSO to go to the Student Union Senate meeting to demand that our magazine be dechartered. Again, neither writers nor editors of Gravity were asked to attend. When a member of the campus media ran up to us to tell us to go to the meeting because "they are dechartering you right now," one of our members walked in the door to listen to an official of the Union pronounce that the Union should mandate that the members of Gravity have psychological counseling.
This member of our E-board listened to ad hominem attacks for five hours that evening, nearly an hour in the Union Senate. Our magazine writers were pronounced anti-Arab, anti-woman, anti-black and anti-Brandeis. However, the Union never bothered to create a dialogue with us. We waited for hours, hoping that they would confirm to us that they are legitimately concerned about investigating diversity issues on our campus. Unfortunately, the issue of race and racism on campus was hardly addressed.
We, as a humor magazine, attempt to address relevant and important issues through comedy. Was this the best example of that? Clearly not. Sometimes the controversy surrounding difficult issues makes us accidentally slip into a territory that deeply hurts many individuals. We never expected the community to take our magazine seriously-we are a humor magazine. This is the exact opposite of what we were trying to achieve.
But no one ever bothered to talk to anyone from Gravity magazine about the article. Our e-mail inbox for comments was empty; the Brandeis Black Student Organization did not inform our E-board that they were going to have a meeting regarding the issue. Following the meeting, Union members gathered a group of students from the BBSO to go to the Student Union Senate meeting to demand that our magazine be dechartered. Again, neither writers nor editors of Gravity were asked to attend. When a member of the campus media ran up to us to tell us to go to the meeting because "they are dechartering you right now," one of our members walked in the door to listen to an official of the Union pronounce that the Union should mandate that the members of Gravity have psychological counseling.
This member of our E-board listened to ad hominem attacks for five hours that evening, nearly an hour in the Union Senate. Our magazine writers were pronounced anti-Arab, anti-woman, anti-black and anti-Brandeis. However, the Union never bothered to create a dialogue with us. We waited for hours, hoping that they would confirm to us that they are legitimately concerned about investigating diversity issues on our campus. Unfortunately, the issue of race and racism on campus was hardly addressed.
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