A Letter from the Editor
In the last issue of the Carillon, which hit stands on the 12th, we ran a now controversial article entitled “This September, vote no to CUPE.”
Ahh, the dirty socialist rag that is the Carillon has finally cast behind its red roots and published this, as one denouncer on Twitter bemoaned “union bashing…typical rhetoric.” We didn’t even peel any stickers off any hard hats.
The Internet response was phenomenal: the article is the most viewed article on our website, ever, our Twitter followers shot up, there were 18 comments online (majority of our opinion pieces receive absolutely zero), and multiple letters to the editor. Councilor for Ward 6, Wade Murray, sent me a letter, as did Chad Novak, a “Mayoral Candidate in the 2012 Municipal Election” of Regina, as his email signature says. Novak also said on Twitter “You seriously never have any actually well thought out editorials, do you?”
The buzz has been incredible, but it has made me pause and think. A lot of people criticize the Carillon for running this article in this form. One former staff member said on Facebook that the article was “surprising on a few accounts” because of us publishing in this way, the way that the always wonderful Alexandra Mortensen had written it.
What people seem to forget is that the Carillon is a voice for all students, not for just a few. Sure, the Carillon is historically a little left, but there’s nothing wrong in occasionally kicking up some dust and getting a debate going. Mission accomplished, I’d say. The article drew a strong reaction because it is exactly what people didn’t expect: it wasn’t the same old tired opinion. It had a different slant.
It’s not that suddenly the whole Carillon editorial staff has taken up this opinion. In every issue we print, it says on the first inside page that “opinions expressed in the pages of the Carillon are expressly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Carillon Newspaper Inc.” While producing the last issue, some staff had long debates about running the article, and we still do up to producing this issue you’re reading.
Also found on that same page is our manifesto. The Carillon is named after a bell tower that was supposed to be right in the middle of the academic green when the U of R was being built. If you look out there, there ain’t no bell tower:
“The University never got a bell tower, but what it did get was the Carillon, a newspaper that serves as a symbolic bell tower on campus, a loud and clear voice belonging to each and every student.”
So, I say to each and every student, illegitimi non carborundum.
Perchance he for whom this bell tolls be so ill that he knows not it tolls for him… John Donne, meditation XVII