The Montclarion

Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Lou Cunningham

This past Wednesday proved to be a difficult day for the staff of The Montclarion. We learned that our budget had been frozen (on questionable grounds) and that the Student Government Association had told RFM Printing, our off-campus printer, that they were not to print any more issues of this publication until further notice.

However, we decided to go ahead with our online edition. This wasn't just because we wanted to let you know which movies, CDs and video games would be coming out this year. This wasn't even because we're a bunch of newspaper geeks with nothing better to do on a Wednesday night. There were larger issues at work.

Say what you will about The Montclarion as a newspaper and an organization in general. Whether you like or even approve of the content in our publication, chances are most of you agree that a newspaper is a necessity on a college campus. It is our job to keep you informed of the campus at large, whether it's a bigger issue like the recently approved de-registration policy or a minor one like recent blackouts. From there, we leave you to decide what's important, what's irrelevant, and what needs to be changed. It is integral for an institution of learning to provide all means of awareness; in fact, it's integral for any community to be unified by the means of public forum.

This is important for MSU not just as a university but as a community at large. It is the newspaper's job to serve as the watchdog of the policy-makers who decide your fate as a student and as a citizen, to alert you to any corruption that abuses your trust as fee-paying students, to give you the means to publicly express outrage or adulation for the policies that currently stand. On the front page of The Montclarion, it says that we are "the student voice of Montclair State University since 1928," a motto that flows through every aspect of our publication.

This week, the SGA (one of the policy-makers we keep a critical eye on) took that voice away from your campus. In this case, not only does the newspaper lose (our advertisers certainly won't be happy when they find out), but also every single person affiliated with the campus loses. In the balance hang the liberties that many of us often take for granted: those freedoms of speech, expression, assembly and press.

This doesn't only affect those students who have ties within the SGA or any of the organizations they oversee. This affects the scrappy-headed punk who goes to class, comes back to his dorm in Blanton, plays some Xbox with his buddies and continues this routine throughout the day. This affects the commuter who strolls into class at 8:30 in the morning and dashes back to her car as soon as the class is over. This even affects the adult learners who are only on campus for night classes.

This institution of learning has suddenly been closed off from an important avenue for intellectual consumption. You are now prevented from being an active participant in deciding your fate as an MSU student. As citizens of this country, we've all been handed certain rights and privileges that we take for granted every day. What happens when those foundations are challenged? Will you stand up and fight against this? Or will you sit silently and simply hope that the matters of transparent government and accountable leadership resolve themselves when you wake up tomorrow morning?

Whether or not this situation resolves itself with the SGA, The Montclarion promises to help you keep your voice from being silenced altogether. Until we rectify the situation, The Montclarion will be providing full-length, weekly issues in the form of web-only content (no papercuts!) as well as a new interactive blog. We hope you don't become too cozy with this week's "paperless" newspaper; we have every intention of returning to print in the immediate future.

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