NO RESULTS
Student Association election results on hold as tickets call for each other’s disqualification | Page 3
Northern Star Thursday, March 26, 2015
Volume 115, Issue 78
The Truth Shall Bear All Light
Since 1899
Editorial
We will not be silenced The Northern Star found its First Amendment rights under attack by Student Association executive candidates Wednesday. The Editorial Board will not stand for this. A Wednesday petition from the Nathan Lupstein ticket to the SA Supreme Court alleged the Star and its staff members had collaborated with the Ben Donovan ticket to provide coverage of the SA executive elections in favor of Donovan. The Lupstein petition came hours after
the Star published an article from Editor in Chief Kelly Bauer about Donovan’s ticket filing a petition with the SA Supreme Court alleging Lupstein campaigners had intimidated voters, among other things. The accusations against the Star are, at best, laughably false; at worst, they are irresponsible on the part of Lupstein and amount to an attack on the Star’s integrity. This rather transparent attempt to intimidate the Star into retracting
its article or ceasing election coverage constitutes an attack on journalism and the Star’s First Amendment rights. We will not give in. The Star will continue to publish fair, unbiased news about the elections, the Lupstein and Donovan tickets and the tickets’ attempts to have the other disqualified. The Lupstein ticket’s sad attempt at quashing the First Amendment — a key part of any democracy — and silencing the Star has failed.
We will always provide fair coverage This is a condensed version of the Editorial Board’s response to the Lupstein ticket’s false accusations. For the full response, go to bit.ly/19Smdtj or NorthernStar. info/Opinion/. Lupstein contends Donovan’s ticket collaborated with the Star to sway election results. This is false. The Star published the article detailing the Donovan ticket’s accusations against the Lupstein ticket because it is in the public’s interest to hear about candidates’ concerns and impending SA Supreme Court hearings that could delay election results and disqualify candidates. The Star gave the Lupstein ticket a chance to comment and published Lupstein’s response. It has also published an article detailing the Lupstein ticket’s petition against the Donovan ticket and it will continue to fairly report on elections. To date, no candidate has asked for a
correction to those articles. • Lupstein contends Star staff members, including Bauer, worked with the Donovan ticket. This is untrue and would be against the Star’s ethics and procedures. These claims are outlandish and unsubstantiated. • Lupstein alleges there have been “so many articles regarding Greeks in the SA and the negative connotation associated with between them.” No articles fit this bill. In fact, there have been no recent articles about Greek involvement in the SA, and certainly none that seek to put a “negative” light on the connections between Greek life and the SA. It would go against the Star’s ethics to have articles that are biased. A March 20 Northern Star editorial — that is, a piece from the Editorial Board that appeared in the Star’s opinions section — urged the SA to advertise elections more so there would be more diverse candidates.
We stand by that: Elections should feature a diverse array of candidates. If Lupstein is trying to say the Star’s award-winning Editorial Board should not fulfill its role and publish editorials that advocate for diversity — well, that appears to be another attempted attack on the staff’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression. • Lupstein contends the Star did not write about Donovan’s activity in Greek life. But, a Monday profile on Donovan noted he is pledging. • Lupstein alleges the Donovan ticket and the Star have attempted to intimidate the Board of Elections. This is untrue. To have not reported on candidates’ concerns about the fairness of the board would have been poor journalism. The Star has no interest in intimidating Board of Elections members. It wants only to provide fair, accurate coverage to its readers.
from news coverage of the 2015 SA executive elections. Bauer will not write, edit or view before publication an article about the tickets’ squabbles, though the Northern Star stands by the article Bauer wrote, “Donovan ticket calls for disqualification of Lupstein ticket
in SA elections, citing intimidation.” Bauer will continue to serve as the Star’s editor in chief and publisher, will edit stories that do not pertain to the 2015 SA executive elections and will serve on the Editorial Board. Questions may be directed to Editor@NorthernStar.info.
Next steps In the interest of showing the Star’s readers how dedicated the Star is to preventing conflicts of interest and to show how false these claims are, Bauer, who wrote the article Lupstein contends shows collaboration between the Star and the Donovan ticket, has recused herself
Northern Star Editorial Board Editor in Chief & Publisher Kelly Bauer | Managing Editor Keith Hernandez News Editor Jackie Nevarez | Digital Editor Margaret Maka | Perspective Editor Rachel Scaman Sports Editor Frank Gogola | Scene Editor Sabreena Saleem | Photo Editor Ryan Ocasio
www.NorthernStar.info