Spring Break
Letter: URI tour guide says timing of lawsuit article was insensitive, inappropriate
Issue date: 4/29/09 Section: Editorial/Opinion
04/29/09 - To the Cigar,
I am writing this letter in regards to your article last Thursday, "Utah professor files defamation lawsuit against University of Rhode Island presidential candidate."
I feel that it was extremely inappropriate for The Good Five Cent Cigar, as the face and voice of URI, to publish this article on the day Dean Robert Newman was visiting.
As the three URI presidential candidates visit our university, we should realize that this is a two-way interview process, and that we are also trying to sell URI to the candidates.
As the tour guide who led Newman around campus and a participant in the public forums for all three of the candidates, I am an active part of this process.
I find it very disconcerting that the primary media outlet on campus published an article which makes my job harder as it sways the opinions of casual students, faculty and staff and makes URI less appealing to one of our presidential candidates.
Additionally, you wrote about this lawsuit before all of the evidence was revealed or a verdict was decided upon, which creates an unfairly negative portrayal of Newman. Please do not interpret this letter as me wanting to hide the fact that there is an ongoing lawsuit because I think it is very important that we are all aware of its existence.
However, I do not believe it needed to be on the front page on the day Newman visited. Finally, if you are going to write about the negatives of Newman, you should also write about the positives in the same article.
In the future, I hope that the Cigar is more mindful of URI's objectives and we can all work together to achieve those goals.
Seth Steinman
I am writing this letter in regards to your article last Thursday, "Utah professor files defamation lawsuit against University of Rhode Island presidential candidate."
I feel that it was extremely inappropriate for The Good Five Cent Cigar, as the face and voice of URI, to publish this article on the day Dean Robert Newman was visiting.
As the three URI presidential candidates visit our university, we should realize that this is a two-way interview process, and that we are also trying to sell URI to the candidates.
As the tour guide who led Newman around campus and a participant in the public forums for all three of the candidates, I am an active part of this process.
I find it very disconcerting that the primary media outlet on campus published an article which makes my job harder as it sways the opinions of casual students, faculty and staff and makes URI less appealing to one of our presidential candidates.
Additionally, you wrote about this lawsuit before all of the evidence was revealed or a verdict was decided upon, which creates an unfairly negative portrayal of Newman. Please do not interpret this letter as me wanting to hide the fact that there is an ongoing lawsuit because I think it is very important that we are all aware of its existence.
However, I do not believe it needed to be on the front page on the day Newman visited. Finally, if you are going to write about the negatives of Newman, you should also write about the positives in the same article.
In the future, I hope that the Cigar is more mindful of URI's objectives and we can all work together to achieve those goals.
Seth Steinman
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