The article from Tuesday's issue regarding academic freedom was, in our opinion, a complete violation of trust and comfort in our community.
Alison was not only hurt and betrayed by Professor Tatge's actions, but she was forced to relive it at a grander scale as details of the story were rehashed for the entire campus to read. Not only that, but the article covering the incident seemed to downplay how much damage Professor Tatge actually caused for multiple parties.
He should have had the wherewithal to know that his actions have a large influence on a campus of 2,390 students. And his comments regarding the matter seemed hypocritical — if you don't want to hurt someone's feelings, then why do it in the first place?
When Professor Tatge aimed for "interesting subject matter," it is really more accurately described as gossip.
Additionally, while an article investigating academic freedom would have been great, the subtitle of "Stephens' Arrest" is completely unmerited, inappropriate, obnoxious, discrediting for The DePauw, and not newsworthy in terms of the specific story.
There is a difference between news and someone's personal business. And the author only skims the university's response to the situation. Professor Tatge's actions have legal consequences for the school and emotional ramifications for the students — why wasn't this emphasized?
Regardless of what was and wasn't covered, I was hoping for The DePauw to really take this opportunity to explore student welfare. This situation poses a real threat here: Why are students' personal lives subject to lecture material?
If we can't feel safe here, that doesn't leave many other places where we can. And if something isn't done about this, what's to say that this won't happen to you?
— Courtney Nelson, junior and Caroline Hall, sophomore
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Story allows opportunity for
discussion
I wish to thank The DePauw for publishing such a thoughtful and detailed article on the controversy touched off by Professor Mark Tatge's reporting class.
Based on the facts as they are presented in the article, the only appropriate course the administration can take in this case is to do nothing. Any sanction of Professor Tatge would compromise academic freedom at this institution.
The arrest in question clearly touched on issues that are currently in the public eye on this campus. Discussions of binge drinking and of the alcohol consumption policies of athletic teams have recently received coverage. The reaction to circle the wagons, to maintain a "code of silence," makes it all the more difficult to discuss these problems and even more tragic infractions that take place on this campus.
Moreover, Tatge's assignment carries important lessons for his class, and now the rest of us. Journalists pursue information in order to inform vital conversations amongst the citizenry. In that, they are not so different from other academics — historians, sociologists, biologists and many other scholars.
We all have an obligation to diligently research our subjects even when, indeed especially when, our findings upset the conventional wisdom or shatter the placidity of false or unsustainable consensus.
This university prides itself on having produced for decades leading professional journalists. Presumably the point of endowing a Distinguished Visiting Professor in Journalism is to ensure that DePauw will continue to do so.
Journalists investigate unpleasant truths and difficult subjects that can be deeply discomforting. If a professor of investigative journalism is asked to draw a protective wall around our immediate community and in so doing does not ask his students to pursue stories that reveal the less pleasant side of life then he literally cannot do his job of teaching students how they might go about doing their jobs.
A journalism that doesn't fearlessly pursue stories wherever they lead in order to provide narratives of how we actually live is no journalism at all.
— David Gellman, associate professor of
history
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Story furthers student's embarrassment
I am grossly disappointed with Tuesday's article on academic freedom.
Undoubtedly, a journalist wants to write the most interesting story. But is it worth further demoralizing a fellow student for a few more reads? This article not only downplayed the damage that Professor Tatge caused, but it amplified Alison's sensitivity to subject by informing the whole school of this embarrassing situation.
Academic freedom and journalistic freedom are both tremendously important and should be valued. Nonetheless, where is the value in causing a current student to re-live her mistakes? Unfortunately the article's section titled "Stephens' arrest," added little meaningful substance and further strengthened The DePauw's reputation as a "tabloid."
Being such a small school, it is almost impossible to mess up and not have everyone know about it. I'm not saying that we should overlook mistakes, but when a professor makes a current student the spectacle of a class because it's "interesting," that is uncalled for. It is even more classless when The DePauw decides to further disregard this student's feelings and senselessly broadcast her mistake to entire campus, especially on her birthday. It would be nice to see some tact in the future.
— Richard Gryspeerdt, sophomore
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From one student journalist to another
As a member of campus media at DePauw University, it is my hope that all of the organizations within the PCCM are successful and respected. However, it hurts me to say that I have heard The DePauw student newspaper called a ‘tabloid' or a ‘campus gossip distributor' on more than one occasion.
In your most recent edition (Vol. 160, Iss. 33), The DePauw published a lengthy article, titled "Reporting class sparks controversy over academic freedom." It was in this article that myself, and others I have spoken to, found reason to respond with a letter to the editor.
As you mentioned in your story, DePauw is a small campus. As a result, news and campus activity travels quickly throughout the greek houses, common eating areas and over-capacitated gym.
Many students on campus, like myself, had already heard about the story around which the article focused, prior to The DePauw deciding to write about it. While the article does shed some necessary light on academic freedom and situations in the classroom, the section labeled "Stephens' Arrest" was dispensable and almost entirely unnecessary.
The incident had previously been published in the Campus Crime section of your newspaper and the detail and length with which the article focused on the crime was uncalled for.
Recognize that whatever your staff and editors publish online, stays there forever. When you highlight a student's crimes, ones that were likely a one-time mistake, that information stays on the web forever and can haunt them when looking for a future employer or internship.
I'm not saying that The DePauw should overlook campus crime or sweep every issue under-the-rug. But in an instance where the newspaper could have taken the high road and chosen not to re-embarrass a student (on her birthday nonetheless), The DePauw did not.
I hope The DePauw continues to be read across campus, as I think there are a lot of great students involved and the paper disseminates important information to our community.
I only ask that next time you have a choice about whether or not to write about a sensitive and personal issue, one that has already gone through the student ‘gossip mill,' that the paper thinks carefully about the decision…and chooses to dispel one of its biggest criticisms.
— Zachary Crenshaw, sophomore
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Individual privacy should be a priority at DePauw
Academic Freedom does not equal acceptance of reckless behavior from those charged with presenting compelling information to students. What is lawful and what is in the best interest of university and it's students is not the same.
Students, and parents of those students, have a fundamental belief that when they are on the DePauw campus they will be treated with respect, that not only their physical well being is safe, but that their emotional health is cared for as well.
The fact that a visiting professor would chose a current student's records to teach investigative journalism is an assault to everyone on campus. Each student on campus is subject to the whim of whether a professor may or may not want to target them as the next "subject". The lesson being taught could have been made just as strongly without harming a 19 year old student.
An important journalism lesson here should be – are you reporting news or making news? It appears to me that Mark Tatge wanted to create news – he wanted an academic freedom discussion, he wanted The DePauw to print a controversial story, he wanted to highlight the drinking problem on campus, he wanted to make himself the center of a story – and he didn't care if a student or the university was damaged.
Additionally, he gets to hide behind the of First Amendment Rights, Academic Freedom and Journalism – and has the audacity to say he has no regrets and puts the blame on his students for informing the victim of his actions.
There is lesson here - it's about people in power using information on people they influence in a negative light publicly - socially it's called bullying, in the corporate world it's called harassment. Usually these offenses are shunned and punished. I guess at DePauw it gets you article in the paper. Shame on Mark Tatge and shame on The DePauw for printing it.
— Betsy Stephens, Alison Stephens' mother
