Media Board Response To Appeals Board Request

MEMORANDUM To:

Professor Wayne Davis Chair, Appeals Board for Student Media Organizations

From: Erika Cohen Derr, Director of Student Programs On behalf of members of the 2008-09 Media Board Re:

Clarification regarding The Hoya’s appeal of Media Board sanctions

Date: June 1, 2009

The 2008-09 Media Board has had the opportunity to review the appeal submitted by The Hoya as well as the memorandum from the Appeals Board requesting clarification of the Media Board's position given The Hoya's stated action steps, both actual and intended. We offer this clarification to the Appeals Board. One of the Media Board members summarized our rationale in assigning the sanctions in this way: "As outlined in the Hoya's appeal document, the diversity training, the officers in charge of institutional diversity, etc, are all points that were part of our initial thoughts on action steps to be taken. The fact that they are following through on these is good, but rather than proving the Hoya's capability for acting independently, it only validates the Media Board's suggested sanctions as prudent steps to be taken under any circumstances, independent or otherwise. The fact that they are concerned about their actions, and as an ancillary point, their content, being "dictated by the Media Board," warps the issue at hand. The April Fool's issue was written, edited, and published while the Hoya was under university "control" - to believe that the newspaper's level of integrity, responsibility, and journalistic accountability depends either way on its independence from the University is illogical and false. An institution which commends itself as "The University's Paper of Record" should prove itself worthy of the independence it seeks, and a limited probation seems rather a small measure to endure for the price of integrity." The Media Board has never intended to control or edit the journalistic content of any publication including The Hoya, but it does take seriously its role as the entity that grants access to benefits, including resources like funding, space and administrative support, to all media groups, as well as its role as the body that addresses complaints from members of the community towards media organizations. As you have stated, at the time of the hearing, the Media Board was not presented with the action steps articulated in The Hoya's appeal, nor did we have the written statement of Max Sarinsky's remarks; instead, those remarks were read to both the Media Board and complainant. Without

that information, the Media Board did not have specific information about The Hoya's intended plans for increasing its accountability to the university community. If The Hoya is granted independence, it will no longer have a required relationship with the Media Board, and it may well have no relationship with the Media Board at all. Therefore, any sanctions imposed by the Media Board, or recommendations made by the Appeals Board that The Hoya and the Media Board engage in dialogue (last sentence of paragraph 5 of the Appeals Board memorandum) will have no mechanism for accountability. We may have a common understanding of the steps that need to be taken to increase The Hoya's accountability to the student body through staff development training, inclusion of an Ombudsperson, etc., but without a formal relationship between our organizations, it is impossible to ensure that such sanctions will be fulfilled. The Media Board believes that the ability to become an independent organization that retains some of the privileges of a recognized role and relationship with the Georgetown University community should only be granted to an organization that meets the standards as stated in The Hoya's action steps, as opposed to one that merely intends to meet those standards. A one year probationary period will ensure that The Hoya has a level of accountability to a university entity other than the community at large for the year in which they plan to implement these changes. Should you have any other questions regarding the Media Board position on The Hoya's appeal, do not hesitate to contact me at ext. 74953 or [email protected].