Staff Editorial

Call for publication accountability, responsibility

Last Sunday, the Vassar Student Association granted the Moderate, Independent and Conservative Alliance a degree of clemency after the recent controversy surrounding The Imperialist, MICA’s political magazine. Concerned students took offense to specific wording and cartoons printed in The Imperialist, interpreting them as racist, classist and sexist.

With the understanding that MICA would hold an open forum in which to discuss issues of race and campus life, the VSA chose not to censure the fledgling conservative journal. If executed correctly, the forum will provide valuable discourse on an issue that has far-reaching effects on this campus.

However, the role that The Imperialist plays in campus politics and debate will depend upon its editorial board’s decisions in the coming months.

At the beginning of each issue, The Imperialist proudly announces its intent to stir campus discourse. Upon review of the articles, however, The Imperialist does not appear to call for open discourse and thoughtful dialogue and instead presents the reader with irreverent and inflammatory material. If the mission of The Imperialist is to inform and engage, the content of the magazine and the context in which the material is printed belie any interest in engaging students on an intellectual level. Right now, the publication is affecting a purely emotional response.

A more professional tone would indicate a clear intent on the part of The Imperialist’s editors to present their work as a serious element in campus discussion. The articles in the current form of the magazine alternate between serious explorations of pressing issues and sarcastic pokes on par with a humor rag. Debating important intellectual movements and ideas is productive to a more open campus dialogue; flippant remarks are not.

Another troubling of The Imperialist is its practice of running anonymous articles. The particular article that has caused so much controversy was signed by “Constantine,” a pseudonym for a still unidentified author. At the VSA meeting, members of MICA requested that students who are concerned in the future respond on a more personal level, approaching an individual author or editor and voicing concerns. In taking on the responsibility of publishing a magazine that is based on public expression and opinion, the writers and editors of The Imperialist must also take responsibility for their own words. Unsigned articles neither offer readers the opportunity to respond nor instill in editors an important sense of accountability.

When students are no longer questioning the mission of The Imperialist, the campus can turn to the publication as a resource of alternative, conservative discourse.