Although I am not an avid reader of the Daily — preferring to get my news from other sources and social media websites — it was recently brought to my attention from those sources about some controversy regarding some published submissions in the “Just Sayin'” section. While I do legitimately believe the person who submitted them had good intent (citing the Iowan colloquial definition of “squinny”), and that the Daily would not knowingly publish something so overtly racist, obviously it had a very different impact.

I do believe the Daily failed to review those submissions extensively to see how they could be construed by people of varying social identities on campus, and it didn’t do its duty to promote a safe learning environment for students here. If somebody did intentionally leave those comments knowing the negative impact they could have, then I hope they have faced disciplinary action and have been fired. However, that is not the main thing I would like to address.

I don’t believe abolishing the “Just Sayin'” section is the solution here. At best, all it does is avoid conflict without acknowledging it or taking steps to fix the problem. One of the great things about our country is the freedom of speech and exchange of ideas guaranteed by the First Amendment, and the “Just Sayin’s” gave students the opportunity to share their thoughts with people from all across the campus. Abolishing the “Just Sayin'” section is an example of censorship and the restriction of information exchange between students. Like I said, while I personally didn’t read them that much since I found several of the entries to be annoying, the “Just Sayin’s” served as a part of student life, and I know several students who looked forward to reading the weekly “Just Sayin'” entries.

In a way, there are some positives that have come up from this controversy. It has brought to light issues of privilege, oppression, power and racism to the ISU campus, issues that many students aren’t comfortable engaging with and don’t get the opportunity to discuss. If anything, the Daily should be encouraging more engagement on these issues, not restricting communication between students to allow them the opportunity to exchange ideas. I hope the Daily reconsiders it decision, and ultimately repeals its decision to abolish the “Just Sayin'” section and let the students here decide what direction they want their communication with each other to take. Just sayin’.