CT elections

Dear Editor,

I am writing to the editorial page today to express my dismay at the upcoming “elections” for the executive editor of The Commonwealth Times. As a student at VCU, I pay the student activities fee each semester that funds the operating expenses of The Commonwealth Times. It bothers me that the bylaws of The Commonwealth Times do not allow me to have a vote in who the executive editor is. I pay for the paper to exist and as a student, have a vested interest in how the paper runs and is operated. I have no interest in writing articles or being an editor but I do have a interest in the paper being fair and representing the interest of all people.

Therefore, since I pay for The Commonwealth Times to operate, I would like a say – a vote in who the executive editor is. The current bylaws of The CT do not allow me that opportunity. The sole requirement to have a vote in the executive editor election is to have contributed one article to The Commonwealth Times in the last year. I do not care to write. However, it is unfair when students in mass communications classes, taught by the faculty adviser of the paper, submit articles in bulk and therefore gain the right to have a vote, giving any mass communications student a huge advantage over a outsider.

The process itself is unfair, and as a student who pays for the paper to operate, it is taxation without representation.

Thank you,

Mital Patel

Editor’s reply: The Commonwealth Times applauds students such as you who express an interest in the publication’s policies and procedures. The CT’s bylaws do state that students must submit at least one article to participate in the vote for elected positions. The bylaws also state that students who submit photographs, comics or illustrations are eligible to vote. Articles do not have to be news articles but can be for any section of the newspaper.

The CT bylaws were established in the mid ’80s by a universitywide committee made up of Richard Wilson, then the vice provost for student affairs, in conjunction with the Student Media Commission. At that time, only one mass communications professor and the CT editor – then not a mass comm major – served on the SMC.

The SMC was – and still is – composed of students, faculty and administrators from various disciplines across the Monroe Park Campus, as well as an administrator from the Medical Center Campus.

Each year, all SMC members review all student media bylaws for their accuracy and fairness. The CT staff regrets that you find this process unfair because students from many different majors contribute to each section of The CT.

Articles submitted to The CT by mass communications students undergo the same scrutiny as the works submitted by other students.

Editors, as in all student and professional publications, reserve the right to edit articles submitted for publication on an individual basis for grammatical errors as well as for accuracy and libel or potentially libelous material.

Thank you for your interest in The CT.