???People hate Stephen Marth.
???That is, people who can't read.
???College Democrats and Black Student Union call for his resignation. People scream at him in The Commons. It's all quite exciting.
???Whether or not you actually read his column or just heard about its outrageous content from a friend or a friend of a friend, I would encourage you to check out our Web site and judge for yourself what he has to say.
???Unfortunately, groups like the College Democrats are pompous enough to assume that if they don't like the "direction" The Spectrum's opinion page is going in, they have some say in it.
???Clearly, people have missed the point of an editorial section remaining independent from outside influences.
???Editorials, to the left of this column, are the opinion of the paper's editorial board as a whole. Columns are unique to the editor or staff writer constructing them; it is solely their ideas and contentions that fuel the piece.
???This is the beauty of freedom of the press.
???Any editor could write about a topic as controversial as Stephen Marth's and, as Editor in Chief, I have no right to censor him past the point of scandalous or libelous content.
???Fortunately, Stephen Marth didn't write about being racist or discriminatory towards minorities or homosexuals. He wrote about a practice he thinks is unfair, a double standard when it comes to the "N-word" and how he thinks there shouldn't be segregation based on race or sexual orientation.
???If white students didn't want black students to be in the regular Student Association (which I use because you'll notice, of course, there's no "White SA") and tried to force them to create a Black Student Union, the controversy would be paramount to a Kent State-type riot. But because students are choosing to segregate themselves, it's not supposed to be considered segregation.
???Really, it's just segregation by choice.
???"By definition, segregation is separating people into a smaller group based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion or sex. Therefore, by joining a group based on one of the said categories, one is segregating themselves unintentionally," Marth said, while discussing his column with a group of editors. "While the point of a group is to meet people and learn about similar interests, the segregation that occurs is fueling racism."
???Do you know who T. Thomas Fortune is? If you don't, look him up; he's hailed as one of the most-respected black journalists of all time.
???And at the turn of the century, when racism was rampant and discrimination was commonplace, what if black journalists had been censored based on public opinion?
???No matter how many petitions, e-mails or letters this paper receives, Stephen Marth will not be fired, terminated, suspended or forced to explain or curtail his expression of free speech and freedom of the press within this newspaper. This paper is independent and does not sway as easily as the public opinion.
???"I envision a society where a black person and a white person can stand next to each other and not consider each other as black and white, but simply humans," Marth said. "I want a world where gay and straight isn't an issue, where people of all orientations are looked at as humans. Unfortunately, if the response to my ideals didn't prove that it will most likely never happen, I don't know what will."
???Newspapers have traditionally been an agent of social change. If one person, black or white, decides not to use the "N-word" tomorrow, Stephen Marth has made an impact. He envisions a time where students can see each other without the divides of black, white, gay, straight or classification based on any other demographic.
???Sadly, that day still isn't here.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
