Hypocrisy at the Marquette Tribune

My sources tell me that the Marquette Tribune will support the Administration’s decision to close down the College Republicans’ “Adopt a Sniper” table.

This is deeply ironic, since staffers at the Tribune are chafing at what they see as the Administration’s desire to see that the paper offers only positive coverage of the Administration. Indeed, the suspicion is that their faculty advisor was sacked as part of an effort to send a message as to what kind of coverage is allowed.

Efforts of staffers to get a clear statement as to what was wrong, and what caused Tom Mueller to be fired have produced only vague and not entirely plausible statements.

When pressed by Tribune staffers, administrators have vaguely claimed that the Tribune has been “inconsistent.” Further, there have been complaints about the quality of color reproduction (something the Tribune staff isn’t even responsible for, since they don’t choose the printer), and the quality of photographs in the paper.

Editor Jen Haberkorn says she would like the Administration to be “up front” about what the problem is.

But a lot of people on campus are going to be asking: “How can you demand freedom of expression when you don’t seem to believe that the College Republicans should have it?”