Letters to the Editor: Stentor teaches student a life lesson
By: Feride Yalav
Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: Opinion
I would like to thank The Stentor for teaching me an important lesson that I will carry into my endeavors of becoming a journalist in graduate school and my future career, wherever it may take me.
I have learned that the Western world does not care about Muslims. It was once my belief that in this country, which boasts of its free speech and other liberties, one would be able to push the voices of those ignored and those in need, one would be able to make a change, even if it was a small dent. Instead, I have found myself rejected in my path toward truth and educating those in my community.
I wanted to share with the Lake Forest College community the experiences of a Palestinian student who had the courage to share it with his peers. I was told the story was well written and would be on the front page Tuesday morning. However I received an e-mail Wednesday morning, not even allowing me the time for revision, informing me the story would not run.
I was told repeatedly and robotically wherever I asked that it was "one sided" and "loaded," but I wonder now who the one sided characters are in this microcosm of national religious and racial favoring. If the school allowed such a presentation to occur on campus why can I not recreate the presentation in the paper for those who were unable to attend?
Why was I told the story would run, but then in the last moments was rejected? Why did The Stentor include nothing about the rest of International Week? Why, when I agreed to revise the article, was I still told it would not run in the News section of the newspaper?
I was never confronted in my previous articles to include the "other side" of the argument.
If you look back upon previous issues of The Stentor, my name is printed there under articles that discuss issues in the Middle East as well as the genocide in Sudan. Those articles were not rejected by The Stentor, but spoke, as much as this article about Palestine, from the perspective of the speaker.
I have learned that the Western world does not care about Muslims. It was once my belief that in this country, which boasts of its free speech and other liberties, one would be able to push the voices of those ignored and those in need, one would be able to make a change, even if it was a small dent. Instead, I have found myself rejected in my path toward truth and educating those in my community.
I wanted to share with the Lake Forest College community the experiences of a Palestinian student who had the courage to share it with his peers. I was told the story was well written and would be on the front page Tuesday morning. However I received an e-mail Wednesday morning, not even allowing me the time for revision, informing me the story would not run.
I was told repeatedly and robotically wherever I asked that it was "one sided" and "loaded," but I wonder now who the one sided characters are in this microcosm of national religious and racial favoring. If the school allowed such a presentation to occur on campus why can I not recreate the presentation in the paper for those who were unable to attend?
Why was I told the story would run, but then in the last moments was rejected? Why did The Stentor include nothing about the rest of International Week? Why, when I agreed to revise the article, was I still told it would not run in the News section of the newspaper?
I was never confronted in my previous articles to include the "other side" of the argument.
If you look back upon previous issues of The Stentor, my name is printed there under articles that discuss issues in the Middle East as well as the genocide in Sudan. Those articles were not rejected by The Stentor, but spoke, as much as this article about Palestine, from the perspective of the speaker.
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