YSA Free Speech Fight in Connecticut

There is an important free speech fight going on at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, CT. The short version of the story can be found in the petition below and the fact sheet that follows the petition. For more information and many key documents, you can visit http://freespeechcentral.wordpress.com. If you would like to sign the petition, please go to http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/reinstate-anti-war-opinion-editor.

Sean Howard,

CCSU Youth for Socialist Action

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LETTER TO THE EDITORS: Reinstate Anti-War Editor

To The Recorder Staff—

It has come to our attention that on Tuesday, March 10, 2009, The Recorder’s Opinion Editor Marissa Blaszko was fired from her position for an alleged conflict of interest. The Recorder’s editor-in-chief called Marissa into a private meeting and presented her with an ultimatum to quit campus activism or resign her position with the student newspaper. Marissa refused to make a choice. She was later locked out of the office and fired.

The editor-in-chief told Marissa that she was being fired for her prominence in campus activism and her membership in the Youth for Socialist Action club, and not based on her job performance. It was explained to her that editors are forbidden to participate in campus protests against the Iraq war, or bring to campus the author of a new book on the frame-up of journalist and death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal.

We declare as invalid any internal code or policy of The Recorder which presumes to grant its editor-in-chief the authority to purge the staff of such political convictions and activities as he or she finds disagreeable. Such an absurd claim to power contradicts every official policy of the University, every civil liberties legal precedent of the past 40 years, not to mention the animating spirit of our state and federal constitutions.

We consider Marissa’s firing and any internal policy which its perpetrators would produce in an attempt to justify it as a subversion of basic democratic rights. Under no circumstances does an employer ever have the right to fire an employee for legally exercising her constitutional rights.

We demand Marissa’s immediate and unconditional reinstatement to her position at The Recorder, along with a reaffirmation from the newspaper editors that it will not tolerate discrimination against its staff on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, sexual preference, personal views or affiliations, or any other conditions established by the law.

Sincerely,

Marissa Blaszko, Youth for Socialist Action

Melissa Cordner, President of Pride, Editor-In-Chief of Off-Center Magazine

Joseph O’Keef, Vice President and Treasurer of Veterans Appreciation Organization

Lillian Brabner, SGA Senator and Managing Editor of Off-Center Magazine

Ala’a Alsaqri, President of the Muslim Student Association

Aaron McAuliffe, Vice-President of CCSU Pride

Sean Howard, President of Youth for Socialist Action

Ryan Sheehan, SGA Senator

Amanda Ciccatelli, Former News Editor of The Recorder

Jane Natoli, Former Lifestyles Editor of the Recorder

Christopher Hutchinson, Former Opinion Editor of The Recorder

James Windeagle, President of Native American Club, Radio Station DJ

Erum Mahmud, Treasurer of MSA, Former Secretary of International Relations Club

Wesley Strong, Organizer of CT Students Against the War, Former President of Progressive Student Alliance

Richard Mount, Secretary of Off-Center Magazine

Michael Gendron, CCSU-AAUP President

Jeffrey McGowan, Assistant Chair, Department of Mathematical Sciences

Mike Alewitz, Associate Professor of Art

Carol Austad, Professor of Psychology

Betsy Kaminski, Professor of Sociology

Heather Prescott, Professor of History

Warren Perry, Professor of Anthropology

John O’Connor, Assistant Professor of Sociology

Katherine Hermes, Professor of History

Evelyn Philips, Professor of Anthropology

Farough Abed, Professor of Education

Aram Ayalon, Professor of Teacher Education

Rachel Siporin, Professor of Art

Don Adams, Professor of Philosophy

Steven W. Horowitz, Professor of Psychology

Briann Greenfield, Professor of History

Tim Craine, Professor of Mathematical Sciences

David A. Kideckel, Professor of Anthropology

Jerold Duquette, Professor of Political Science

Mark Strathy, Professor of Art

Carolyn R. Fallahi, Professor of Psychology

Sadu Nanjundiah, Professor of Physics

Eleanor Godway, Professor of Philosophy

Briann Greenfield, Professor of History

Lawrence Kleinm, Professor of Educational Foundations

Mary Patrice Erdmans, Professor of Sociology

Chengiah Ragaven, Professor of International Studies

Elizabeth Aaronsohn, Professor of Education

Tom Edwards, Professor of Art

Stephen Adair, Professor of Sociology

Matt Ciscel, Associate Professor of English

Ron Todd, Professor of Art

Tom Hazuka, Professor of English

Steve Balkaran, Philosophy Lecturer

Edward Iglesias, Systems Librarian

William Shakalis, Adjunct Cataloging Librarian

Melinda Baumgartner, Secretary for Department of Anthropology and International Studies

Michelle St. Pierre, Assistant to the Art Department

Sky Keyes, University of Hartford, Center for Social Research

Tammy Casanova, CCSU Class of 2002

Aubrey Arpie, former President of Youth for Socialist Action

Paige Brackett, Off-Center

Brittany Kilburn, Youth for Socialist Action

Kari Sledzik, Women Involved Now, Progressive Student Alliance

Joan Barker, Youth for Socialist Action

Alexandra King, Progressive Student Alliance

Greg Kuron , graduate student

Kevin R. Casey, graduate student

Asuka Miyazawa, Student

Max Kyhin, Student

Katt Robinson, Student

Oake Meise-Munns, Student

Katia Porter, Student

Aaron Simons, Student

Courtney Smith, Student

Pal Laflesh, Student

Dan Herman, Student

Jamie Caffary, Student

Elizabeth Seust, Student

Kate Anderson, Student

Leslie Boppert, Student

Benjamin Rivera, Student

Arjun Patel, Student

Justin Sylvia, Student

Audrey P. Aresco, Student

Alison P. Aresco, Student

Aaron Benelyn, Student

Victoria Edwards, Student

Daniel Zaputa, Student

Richard Perez, Student

Anas Alarashi, Student

Scott Hunyadi, Student

Brian Dittrich, Student

Nick Deaky, Student

Shane Cianli, Student

Camille Ferrara, Student

Charles Kandetzki, Student

Dave Newell, Student

Andrew Manurso, Student

Abdullah Kahn, Studuent

Elysee Sanon, Student

Jaclynn Lewis, Student

Samantha Magri, Student

Jamie Donahue, Student

Som Borivong, Student

Seana Asklar, Student

Reed Hansen, Student

Courtney Hoffman, Student

Jonathan Paro, Student

Kyrstie Savoy, Student

Kelly McIntyre, Student

Joyce Noble, Student

Jessie Thomas, Student

Michael Montambault, Student

Kofi Frimpong, Student

Ryan McDee, Student

Kavin Soslia, Student

Michael Weiss, Student

Christina Janeiro, Student

Alejandro Dominguez, Student

Cheryl Cianci, Student

Rahul Samanta, Student

Anna Murfin, Student

Ben Pucci, Student

Katherine Deuler, Student

Ashley Laone, Student

Nicole Walbert, Student

Ian MacDonald, Student

Philip Piccolo, Student

Kristina Rowella, Student

Edmund Srandale, Student

Richard Richard Grandzinski, Student

Kerne Cobin, Student

Felicia Gee, Student

Jeremy Jordan, Student

Claire Barber, Student

Brianna Schirra, Student

Andrew Cusson, Student

Nicole Shaw, Student

Lauren Pelletier, Student

Jessie Petroka, Student

Viola Kaci, Student

Christian Ayala, Student

Abby Southworth, Student

Tyreece Gary, Student

Don Aliff, Student

Abby Jenson, Student

Briana Hoffman, Student

Kendell Soliwoda, Student

Rajita Kasireddy, Student

Ashley Lodovico, Student

Rohan Speid, Student

Lauren Hoganson, Student

Joel Sonstroem, Student

Denisa Murtich, Student

Kurt S Jagielow, Student

Adam Krakowiak, Student

Erica Stair, Student

Patricio Cabrera, Student

Daniel Roberts, Student

Eileen Smith, Student

Caleb Johnson, Student

Quantia Edwards, Student

Mathew Church, Student

Deborah Russo, Student

Lilian Silva, Student

Rob Burke, Student

Nicole Kiefer, Student

Henry Fischer, Student

Chris Kulmann, Student

Ian O’Hala, Student

Michael Brown, Student

Stephen St. John, Student

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10 Reasons This Matters

Still not convinced that the Recorder’s actions, as well as our own, affect all students? Here are 10 reasons why you should sign this petition and get involved with this fight:

1. The Recorder ran an editorial this week threatening to fire any writer or editor for “political beliefs and leanings that are acted upon in public.

The editorial was the Recorder’s defense for having fired its opinion editor, Marissa Blaszko, for her prominence in campus activism against the Iraq war and her membership in the Youth for Socialist Action club on campus.

2. The Recorder has already censored Marissa’s articles this year. This include:

“Losing” at least half a dozen of Marissa’s articles, including a column in support of the CCSU faculty’s union, the AAUP, for its stand against budget cuts which urges them to mobilize maintenance staff and students in support of their demands for cheaper education.

Refusing to publish column about the college-student strikes against tuition hikes in Paris, Athens, and New York City.

Refusing to publish an article about a campus lecture by the author of a new book on death-row inmate, journalist and ex-Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal.

3. Our student paper needs to welcome a diversity of views.

The Recorder ignores significant events on campus, including last semester’s opening of the Veteran Drop-In Center and the Culture Shock performance by the Africana Student Organization.

4. What the Recorder calls “objectivity” is only bias by another name.

Erin McAuliffe, vice-president of PRIDE, a gay rights group on campus, was denied a promotion to editor after she refused to support a newspaper editorial that attacked her club.

The opinion page was taken away from Marissa Blaszko, a member of Youth for Socialist Action, and given to College Republican Shauna Simone.

One staff writer who organized campus protests against Scientology was allowed to publish a series of attacks on that institution, yet articles written by a student-activist which criticized the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were discouraged.

Marissa Blaszko was explicitly forbidden to write in favor of worldwide protests that called for an end to U.S. military support for the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.

5. If The Recorder’s mission is to train college students to think like corporate news reporters, then shouldn’t the Journalism Department fund it?

Our student fees should go to a newspaper that is more receptive and accommodating to the broad range of student views.

6. The Recorder follows the same “code of objectivity” which has established corporate rule over the flow of information in our democracy.

Forty-one percent of professional journalists admit they “softened” or “reshaped” stories out of fear for their jobs. *1

Twenty-five percent of professional journalists have avoided pursuing newsworthy stories for the same reason.

Thirty percent of professional journalists believe that stories are ignored because they might conflict with the financial interest of their owners or advertisers.

7. This decision sets a dangerous precedent for students and faculty on campus.

Other campus media-outlets may have their charters revoked if their student directors opposed the firing.

Could ‘non-political’ clubs lose funding if they endorse or participate in an activity deemed “political”?

Does this mean it’s okay to fire a professor for his or her “political leanings that are acted on in public”?

8. In this week’s issue of the paper, the editorial board swears that “The Recorder will not abandon its stance and the former Opinion Editor will remain as such.”

It will take students from across campus to defend our constitutional rights.

9. The opinion editor was fired for her willingness to write about issues pertaining to the rights of women, Arabs, Muslims, Latinos, African-Americans, veterans, and the LGBT community.

By signing, you will join student leaders from Women Involved Now, PRIDE, Latin American Student Organization, Muslim Student Association, Africana Students Organization, Veterans Appreciation Organization, Progressive Student Alliance, and Youth for Socialist Action.

10. The world is turning upside-down with layoffs, home foreclosures, tuition hikes, contract renegotiations, and state budget cuts to higher education.

Student-journalists will need their First Amendment freedoms guaranteed if they’re expected to write about the issues that most concern the student body and faculty.

Read the petition today, and click http://www.thepetit ionsite.com/1/reinstate- anti-war-opinion-editor. to get your name added!

*1 These are among the findings in a major survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and the Columbia Journalism Review. A total of 287 journalists were polled, including 81 senior editors and executives. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-27837023_ITM