I was asked the other day why I’ve made a conscious decision to bring up from the dead the Catt Hall controversy.

“I’m sick of hearing about it,” I was told.

A few days later another presumed reader said over the telephone that I was just trying to sell newspapers by continuing to put “everything that comes up about Catt on the front page.”

Later, one of my oldest friends, someone who I have a great admiration for, said nicely that he thinks I’m being taken for a ride by a small but vocal minority who won’t let the controversy drop until the hall’s name is changed. He said one reason, possibly the main reason, the issue persists is the Daily’s continued high-profile coverage.

And still later, sitting in the Union observing randomly what students dwell on while reading the Daily (something I do often), I overheard a conversation. It went something like this: “The Daily just won’t let it die. Nobody cares anymore.”

Those are criticisms, especially the unsolicited remarks from my good friend, that weigh heavy on me. And as the student chosen to serve you, the reader, as editor of your student newspaper, I must take them to heart, weighing carefully their validity or lack of.

A little background: For more than a year there’s been an on-going debate about Catt Hall, named after Iowa State alumnus Carrie Chapman Catt. Catt was undeniably a key figure in the women’s suffrage movement but has fallen under fire for alleged racist remarks that she made while fighting to get women the vote.

Some students, though it’s really impossible to know how many, want the name of the building changed. Those students have organized into the September 29th Movement. University officials, most visibly President Martin Jischke, remain firm in their position that the name will stay.

The debate was heightened greatly, at least in my view, last week when the president’s new diversity advisor circulated a memo to faculty members calling on them to join in the fight for a new name. In the memo, Derrick Rollins says: “After long discussions with a number of people on both sides, including Jane Cox, and after conducting my own research, I concluded that Catt strongly demonstrated an attitude of political racism.”

Though the memo was the most recent, the Daily has covered with vigor (yes, on the front page) other less significant Catt developments.

As for the criticisms, and there were more than those detailed above, I can only say this: I think they are wrong. They are logical and they are natural responses to an issue that seemingly “will not go away.”

I can see why readers, students and faculty alike, would conclude that the Daily is only fueling the Catt Hall fire with its coverage, not letting a tired issue die.

But — with all due respect to those who think otherwise, including my friend — I have a different view.

If the student newspaper won’t take it upon itself to raise the level of discussion, than who will? If the student newspaper won’t take it upon itself to put forward new developments about the most divisive issue in our college careers, than who will?

If the student newspaper won’t take it upon itself to give students the whole picture, whether they want it or not, than who will? If the student newspaper won’t give members of the September 29th Movement and Derrick Rollins their due, than who will? If the student newspaper won’t provide a median for the administration to explain its position, than who will?

The answer, a foregone conclusion in my mind, is no one. It’s my job to put forward issues so that readers can make informed, qualified decisions. I don’t always do it well and I’ve failed on more than one occasion.

But I do try. I try to be fair in news decisions and I try to take into account all views. As for the Catt controversy, I feel the only fair thing to do, indeed the right thing to do, is to continue to cover the issue with vigor so that you might have the facts.

As with any issue, any controversy, information is the key to solid decision-making. Gathering and presenting that information, whether pleasant or disturbing, is my job. It’s a job I love, certainly not one that I take lightly.

So expect more on the Catt controversy. It is my hope that you will find future articles intellectually challenging and emotionally stimulating.

Still, if it pains you to be further exposed to the issue, I can only tell you that most segments of the Daily are not required reading.