This is a letter to help explain why the Daily was asked to leave the meeting that was described in the Monday Nov. 18 “In Our Opinion.”

The word cowardice should not have been used, in my opinion.

I have worked for several student organizations, and in each of those organizations the Daily is regarded as exploitationalist and sensationalist.

Instead of reporting facts, the Daily uses its editing authority to take things out of context to cause controversy.

I guess one reason for this might be to sell newspapers or increase readership, but I do not think the Daily’s standards should be that low.

The meeting in question was not required to be open and if the Daily had a chance to report on it it would probably have made some issue of discussion that was intended for those in the room into a campuswide expose about who is what and why their feelings are wrong!

I want to exclude most members of the Daily, who are very objective, but those that are not make it hard for the rest of them to be credible.

I would not welcome a Daily reporter to do anything about any organization I am involved with unless I could be assured that the entire discussion was printed in its context instead of edited into word bites, so the reporter can have an opportunity to work on his or her journalism skills.

A lot of the student body agrees with me in that the Daily needs to grow up and be more professional than it currently is.

One way the Daily can grow up is to replace all garbage with stories about groups that are never covered.

There are over 100 student groups on this campus. Most never get a call to do a piece on them to increase their group’s awareness to students on campus.

Instead of wasting time whining about a reporter not getting into a meeting, time would be better served by covering one of those numerous clubs.

Ed Sherman

Senior

Community and Regional

Planning