The Student Newspaper of Saint Joseph’s University
Volume XCV | Est. 1929 | www.sjuhawknews.com
Feb. 22, 2017
Correcting the narrative
New evidence reveals deceptive reports ANA FAGUY ’19 Editor in Chief
Graphic by Luke Malanga, ’20.
After reviewing a full recording of a post-election forum held on campus last November, The Hawk has verified that a version of the recording published earlier this month on a national conservative website and later highlighted on Fox News was altered. The recording, posted Feb. 8 on the website CampusReform, features remarks made by David Parry, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the communication studies department, at a Nov. 10 event titled “Making Sense of the Presidential Election.” The Hawk confirmed the recording posted online the website was heavily edited, cutting sentences that provide context, changing the order of Parry’s words, and removing applause from those in the room. In the full recording, Parry speaks for at least eight minutes. The altered version runs for two minutes and 30 seconds. Almost two weeks after the story an edited recording appeared on CampusReform, Parry became the subject of a Fox News segment. The host of the Fox News show Watters’ World, Jesse Watters, came to campus Feb. 14 to question Parry and Saint Joseph’s University students about the altered audio recording. In the Fox segment, which previewed on
the morning show Fox & Friends on Feb. 17 and aired on Watters’ World on Feb. 18, Watters incorrectly stated that Parry was responsible for teaching student journalists. Parry does not teach journalism classes. Watters also stated that Parry’s comments were made in a classroom setting. The statements were made at a public forum where Parry was one of five speakers. Parry told The Hawk he agreed to speak at the forum because he felt it was an appropriate and welcoming environment to discuss how to move forward post-election. The event, and Parry’s invitation to speak, were planned prior to the outcome of the election. Fox News contacted St. Joe’s for a response before the segment aired on Feb. 18. “We made it very clear that Dr. Parry was neither speaking in class nor representing the University,” said Joseph M. Lunardi, St. Joe’s assistant vice president for marketing communications.“Fox did not incorporate that information in its report.” The Fox News segment prompted responses from many students, alumni, and outsiders. “The University has received a higher than average volume of calls and emails since the report,” Lunardi said. “Well over 90 per-
cent of those contacting us have no affiliation with Saint Joseph’s.” Mike Lyons, Ph. D., assistant professor of communication studies, said Watters’ World takes what “plausibly could be thought of as a news topic and surrounds it with 10 seconds of opinion here and there.” “It’s [Watters’ World] not meant to elucidate or explicate a topic, it’s not meant to produce knowledge,” Lyons said. “It’s meant to reinforce what [Watters] already believes to be true, and it’s meant to reinforce in Fox News’ case, a company kind of institutional belief.” Parry told The Hawk that one of the missing components of the story, besides the fact that he was not delivering a classroom lecture, is the 90-minute dialogue he had with students after his remarks. Also missing, he said, was the context of his remarks, which included his “deep sympathy” for “people in communities who are suffering under economic disparity.” Here at St. Joe’s, the incident has ignited a debate about academic freedom, particularly what students and faculty have the right to say, where they have the right to say it, and when it can be recorded. CONTINUED ON PG. 3
Reuniting a brotherhood
Pi Kappa Phi re-establishes a chapter on Hawk Hill CHARLEY REKSTIS ’20 News Editor The social fraternity Pi Kappa Phi is re-establishing their Epsilon Tau chapter at Saint Joseph’s University and accepted its first five members on Jan. 17. Pi Kappa Phi is different from the other fraternities on Hawk Hill because it is the only national fraternity that created and financially supports its own philanthropy. “We found there were men that were not finding their fit, they were looking for a different type of fraternity that we offer that were different from the three we already have, so our inter fraternity council had a lot of conversations about it and decided the time was right to add a fourth,” said Stacey Sottung, associate director of Student Leadership and Activities. The fraternity was part of the St. Joe’s Greek Life about 10 to 12 years ago and left in good standing, so when the interfraternity council wanted to bring a new fraternity back, they thought of Pi Kappa Phi. “[It was] just numbers,” Sottung said. “They left in good standing; they just had declining membership and they just got too small to be a sustainable organization.” Erik Blakney, the leadership consultant for Pi Kappa Phi, along with his colleague Connor Burk hold one-on-one meetings and interest presentations on campus to recruit re-founding members for the fraternity. “Once we get a wave of 15-20 bids, we get them all hanging out together,” Blakney said. “We have our own brotherhood
events, our own semi-formal recruit events where they invite their friends who they think might be interested and we start building that chapter.” Pi Kappa Phi is focused on service
community, it is about the community as a whole surrounding the campus.” Jeff Maziarz, ’19, was the first re-founding member and is eager to have the opportunity to meet the other new members.
Erik Blakney, leadership consultant for Pi Kappa Phi, recruits new members (Photo by Luke Malanga, ’20).
events and hopes to have the new chapter work with the Kinney Center. “On the local level, we challenge our chapters to come up with something creative and unique,” Blakney said. “Especially being founding fathers, they have a lot of freedom and St Joe’s has a disability center on campus—we are hoping to partner with them. It is not just about the St. Joe’s
“I get to meet and bond better with the other brothers that will be coming into the initial class and help make an impact on campus, help build better friendships between us, and hopefully host some different events and do some things around the Saint Joseph’s community,” Maziarz said. The process of creating a new chapter on campus will take around 15 to 16
months. Blakney said it starts with the establishment of an executive board and then the fraternity will become a “chapter in training” where a system of checks and balances is put in place. “By this time next year, if all goes well, it will be a fully chartered chapter,” Blakney said. The new chapter will then have to compile all that they have done, give the information to the headquarters, then the headquarters will check them off, and the fraternity will receive their charter. The re-establishment of Pi Kappa Phi gives students the opportunity to find a leadership role on campus, which is something Maziarz is very interested in. “Hopefully I will be going for some type of leadership within the fraternity, when that gets decided because that is still an ongoing thing,” Maziarz said. Since this is a new chapter on campus, it allows for more creativity and a chance to brainstorm new events for the fraternity and plan innovative service events to give back to the community. “I think it is that creative freedom,” Blakney said. “They get to plan their own events and create the identity of this chapter and a lot of guys look at other chapters on campus and maybe they don’t see themselves fitting in with those organizations, so they think ‘let me make my mark somewhere else, let me go make my legacy with a group of guys that more fit my college experience.’”