The editorial The Maneater posted Sept. 16 was shameful enough. They were rightly criticized for it in the Letter to the Editor that was posted Sept. 23. If the paper had apologized, addressed its wrongness, and maybe promised to do better, things might have been okay. Instead, The Maneater had to clarify.
The clarification, the refinement, the idea that what they wrote wasn’t wrong, but was just misunderstood, was and is shameful.
It is OK to make mistakes, even if the mistakes are not OK. I understand that The Maneater exists largely to allow student journalists to do just that. From personal experience and the experience of many people close to me, I know that firsthand. However, it stops being OK very quickly. It stops being OK when in the face of criticism, you bob and weave instead of admitting, outright, that you were wrong. It stops being OK when you don’t apologize. It stops being OK when you blame someone else.
Ignorance is never an excuse, especially ignorance as unhinged and willful as the ignorance pleaded by the editorial board. Claiming, as you did, that the RSVP Center needs to do more to advertise itself is mind-numbing. It falls flat not because the charge is false, though it is. It falls flat because if the editorial board cared as much as it is claiming to about stopping the dangerous and toxic culture of sexual assault on this campus, the RSVP Center should have been championed in the original editorial. The center’s amazing efforts would have been cited, promoted, and then promoted again. The organization that dedicates itself to educating anyone who will listen on the issues of domestic and sexual violence should have been bolded, italicized, and underlined.
If you believe that the center is not known by enough students — which, again, is disingenuous — it should have been your main imperative to educate your readership on the valuable resource. But it wasn’t. And in essentially blaming the RSVP Center for your mistake, you’ve doubled down on a terrible, terrible hand.
At best, what The Maneater has done is unethical. Failing to minimize harm, failing to seek truth and failing to act with accountability or transparency are cardinal sins in the world of journalism. Student paper or not.
In the interest of fairness, I did a small amount of research. I went through the ‘RSVP Center’ tag on The Maneater website. Not including the Letter to the Editor and the second editorial, the last coverage of the RSVP Center’s work was in April 2014. Before that, October 2013. If The Maneater wants the RSVP Center to get more coverage on campus, the persons they should be calling to action are themselves.
I also found an editorial that was published on Nov. 30, 2012, titled “Editorial: It takes everyone at MU to stop rape culture.” The long editorial criticizes the temperature of the conversation about rape and sexual violence on campus. It calls the entire student body to action.
It also has this:
“The Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center offers resources to sexual violence survivors and friends and family members of survivors. The Sexual Health Advocate Peer Educators program, through the Student Health Center, aims to educate students about their sexual rights. RSVP’s White Ribbon campaign encourages men to speak out against rape. The Counseling Center can offer support to survivors of sexual violence as they heal. Student Life’s Green Dot initiative helps promote positive sexuality and the importance of consent.”
This editorial was far from perfect. It, too, indulged in too much cheekiness and used at times questionable language. But it had a list of resources, too, and it applauded those resources for the invaluable work they do.
In writing this, I feel sad and I feel heavy. I am angry at this paper and I am disappointed in this paper. More than anything, I want this paper to do better. I want our university to do better. I want The Maneater to stand up and apologize for its mistakes.
The Maneater has the ability and the power to tangibly erase the harm that it has done. Responsibly, respectfully, and accurately cover the RSVP Center. Raise the awareness you believe is lacking. It will take everyone on campus to change what needs to be changed. That includes you.
— Bradley Babendir, bsb7xf@mail.missouri.edu