Editorial
Controversy

by Gillian Candelaria

How come the single word "controversy" makes the blood in my veins run faster? Is it because we here at the Delphian seek to provoke it and bring us closer to the collegiate newspaper we once were in Adelphi's history?

The Delphian's last issue embraced the word "controversy" intentionally and unintentionally. As a college newspaper, we try to capture the spirit of this word in every piece, whether it's through questioning hard-to-reach university officials or by articulating the unsung stories of this institution's constituents. I thought that's what a newspaper does: Provoke controversy.

As for the intentional, in our last issue we pursued a bolder approach to reporting by bringing to light the inner-workings of Adelphi University, positive and negative.

As a newspaper, it is our right and duty to maintain our journalistic integrity, and "resist actively external censorship" as it states in our constitution. We are the "voice of the students" and will continue to publish under that mandate.

As for the unintentional controvery provoked by the recent Halloween Defiler insert and the misquoted administrator in our "Levermore Theft Scandal" front page article, the Delphian Editorial Board apologizes with the deepest sincerity to those persons directly affected by the stories. There was no malicious design or devious agenda, just a wrong turn in our editorial process that let such information into the issue.

The Defiler insert is particularly problematic since it is meant as satire and can unintentionally seep across the boundaries of our prankish Halloween issue, a longstanding Delphian tradition. After learning the repercussions of our choices - in this case, placing a faculty member in an embarassing light through no fault of his own - we do understand the problems with this story and will be more prudent in our April Fools edition. We are college journalists learning the do's of public media, and with every issue the Adephi community teaches us a new lesson.

As for the community, there is a way of adressing our work: A letter to the editor. The Delphian won't turn down an educated response to an article or editorial with proper identification. We can always be reached through e-mail at delphian@adelphi.edu.

The Delphian's past has always been a quarrelsome trail featuring upset administrators and angry students. Throughout the 60's and 70's, the Delphian faced serious resistance from their publication with missing paper stacks, balsphemous graffiti, along with threats of budget cut and printing. The Delphian of today does not want to regress to these times.

Like the paper of yesteryear, the Delphian will forever be proud of their work and will continue to publish to the best of our ability the most accurate and objective information, while promoting, and engaging in, lively discourse within the campus community - controversy at its best.