I am writing to express my displeasure with the publication of the "Letters From the Editors" and similar in the March 14 edition of The Spectrum. The choice to publish these pieces in place of secondary source coverage of Saturday's Fiesta is not only disrespectful to the winning KSA, but to the rest of the performers, Gunnar Haberl, Elise Helou and the entire student body.
The Spectrum admitted that it did not have tickets for their reporter and photographer, and additionally did not have press passes. By admitting that they didn't follow the rules, they have absolutely no case to argue that being barred from the event is an infringement of free press. The mention of past occurrences of rule bending/breaking when Spectrum reporters were allowed to cover events without press passes does not help the case either. Broken rules in the past should not guarantee continued similar habits in the future.
A mistake was made by someone with The Spectrum. Plain and simple. It happens to everyone; we are all human. The decision to create this false narrative claiming that your denial of entry was everyone else's fault is misplaced and truly a poor representation of UB.
I spoke with a source close to Elise and found out that even the performers needed tickets to remain in the event to watch their friends perform. Working at The Spectrum does not make anyone special. We are all still students and we all have to follow the same rules.
The Spectrum needs to retract these pieces and formally apologize to all of the above-mentioned parties. The facts associated with this situation were misrepresented by the publication. UB students deserve better.
I am very disappointed in The Spectrum's actions because I usually enjoy picking up a copy when a new edition comes out. The Spectrum has long been a reliable source of facts and a good place to find out about more nuanced issues on campus. In this case, they are wrong and need to right their course.
Thank you for your time.
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Daniel G. Korff
Environmental geosciences student
