Countless hours of work are required for producing a newspaper. College editors need to spend the same amount of time and late nights-on top of juggling another career-being a student. Students dedicate themselves to a publication for the experience of a supplement to the lessons learned in class.

But when that opportunity is ripped away, where does that leave the eager staff? The student newspaper of Montclair University in New Jersey, The Montclarion, suffered a week without publishing (in print-the Web edition was still posted) due to a budget freeze. The staff has now been granted a 30-day trial of access to their funds.

Most coverage of this situation has focused so intently on the freeze, that the underlying cause is misplaced. According to an article by the Associated Press, the editors say the whole fiasco began when the Student Government Association (SGA) was holding closed meetings, which could be a violation of New Jersey law. The Montclarion staff hired a lawyer to help gain access to these meetings and all hell broke loose.

Montclair’s SGA now demands to know what was discussed since the lawyer was paid for with the school’s money. The SGA representatives say the freeze is not due to censorship, but because the newspaper hired a lawyer against their permission.

Regardless of whether that aspect was right or wrong, why is the newspaper all to blame? A pointing finger could also be aimed at Montclair’s SGA-the reason this is even happening is supposedly due to that staff’s actions.

Student government associations on college campuses should have lawyers available to all organizations, but in this case, it is obvious why The Monclarion chose another path. What’s the point of having a representative who corresponds with your opponent?