Derek Varsalon’s letter in the October 15th edition of the Chronicle is filled with many misconstruings about Freedom, the conservative newsletter of the campus.
He accuses Freedom of squelching articles that go against the party line, which is absurd because I, as the editor of the newsletter, don’t like adhering strictly to party lines anyway. Regardless, he lists four instances of where I supposedly denied him his right to be heard.
The first instance was about his article against the Patriot Act. Personally I have many reservations about the Patriot Act and I agreed with part of his article. Derek’s complaint in this matter is puzzling, though. He admitted that we ran his article… so what’s the problem? The only thing I can think of is that I edited out his footnotes that were cluttering up the article and weren’t necessary. He complained about that to me personally and I told him that he shouldn’t write his articles like they were term papers. I didn’t hear any more complaints about that.
The second instance is one of the most absurd things he put forth. His “article” was nothing more than a list of poorly thrown-together suggestions on how we would operate our club. It had nothing to do with current events and offered no opinion on anything pertinent. It was more like an internal memo a company would submit amongst its own employees. It made no sense whatsoever to print it. The club agreed that it should not be published because it had nothing to do with anything and would be inappropriate to publish.
His third instance is nothing more than pure whining. His suggestion was dismissed because it missed the point of Freedom, which is a newsletter designed to be written by HOFSTRA students and faculty. GOP politicians on Long Island don’t fit that category, so they’re not free to write in Freedom. That his idea was not accepted has nothing to do with stopping free speech.
Finally, he cites his idea to have Freedom and the Chronicle merge. It’d make more sense, honestly, for Guns & Ammo and Reader’s Digest to merge. The Chronicle is a newspaper that reports news about Hofstra. Freedom is a newsletter that publishes opinion pieces about current events. Why would we cede editorial control over to the Chronicle, and why would they cede reporting duties over to us? Why?
In all four of his complaints he made no real noise about his grievances. Add to that that he hasn’t attended a meeting for as long as I can remember and I don’t know how often he communicates with other members on-line or over the phone or wherever. It’s sad that a communications major has difficulty communicating with his own club.
Freedom accepts submissions from any students, and although I cannot guarantee that they will all be published, I maintain that the newsletter’s purpose is to allow Hofstra students to communicate their opinions. Liberal students are free to send letters and if we deem them to be relevant enough we will print them.
Derek Varsalona’s weak complaints should be dismissed as readily as I dismissed them. He complains that he didn’t get one article published and one of his suggestions turned down, so he complains to other people. That is very unprofessional and pathetic. Perhaps he should be more worried about letting his foolish ideas drown out any real grievances he has and focus more on growing up.
– Adam LoBelia, Editor-in-Chief of Freedom, junior journalism major