The Commentator
Volume 63 Issue 7

Message From the Editor-In-Chief: Adam Moses

The Commie Responds

No Need to Read this One Metaphorically

I must confess that I am thoroughly mystified by Susan Jacobs' recent column in The Stern College Observer. It seems to me an empty diatribe which, although admirable in its obvious emotional urgency, fails to meet the minimal threshold for coherence. If Ms. Jacobs wishes to meaningfully impugn The Commentator, she might consider mentioning what it is specifically that she finds so contemptible about this paper rather than simply declaring that it nefariously subverts every journalistic standard she can conjure up. After probing the depths of Ms. Jacobs' cantankerous outburst in an effort to divine some semblance of forensic integrity amid the stock phrases, I write now to acknowledge my failure. Even Derrida would blanch at this one. No amount of creative deconstructionism can salvage the merit of an argument that relies exclusively on broad inflammatory declarations to the exclusion of a single tangible example in support of its claims.

Ms. Jacobs' column is, simply put, wildly false, unpersuasive chicanery. As her allegations are unsupported by fact, Ms. Jacobs can proffer no examples to bolster them. Ms. Jacobs fantasizes that The Commentator has a "blatant disregard for accuracy" and "offends standards of decency held by most college newspapers." Jacobs does not bother to clarify why she thinks these things are so. She merely issues judgments and then moves on to her next round of skullduggery. Of course, her suggestions are utterly without merit (watch for the coming libel lawsuit). Every story The Commentator publishes is subjected to rigorous background fact checking to confirm its veracity. I defy Ms. Jacobs to prove that anything published in The Commentator does not meet this standard. Unless Ms. Jacobs understands "most college newspapers" to mean The Ner Israel Rabbinical College Newsletter or The West Virginia Nazarene Bible College Epistle, she is incorrect to suggest that our standards of decency are at significant variance with those of other college newspapers. While it is obvious that The Commentator is not a Christian Coalition pamphlet edited by Jerry Falwell, Ms. Jacobs' Bible-thumping zeal is misplaced. The Commentator would doubtless be thought puritanical by many sex obsessed, obscenity laced mainstream collegiate publications. The Commentator would not, for instance, dispatch a roving reporter to interview students about their opinion of Viagara use as The Columbia Spectator did recently. Certainly, The Commentator would not feature, as NYU's paper did this year, two full pages of student opinion pieces devoted to methods of cunnilingus performance.

Jacobs' flabbergasting claim that students do not read The Commentator "to be informed about events in their school or the world at large" taxes credulity. This year, The Commentator's rededication to aggressively uncovering leads has yielded, arguably, an unprecedented number of significant stories of relevance to the University community. The Commentator has led the University journalistic pack, breaking every important story prior to The Observer and YU Today (please see listing below). Additionally, The Commentator's initiative this year to become the University's paper has been realized with frequent stories relating to Yeshiva graduate programs including AECOM and Cardozo. The recent defection of two important Observer writers to the ranks of The Commentator and the coverage of Stern developments that this acquisition portends will cap our commitment to provide University-wide reportage. Our broader scope of coverage this year has also spawned impressive articles of Jewish communal concern and political elections features. As I recall, The Commentator, not other Yeshiva news organs, secured an exclusive interview with Chuck Schumer only days previous to his election to the U.S. Senate.

The most distressing element of Ms. Jacobs' disjointed rant is her unabashed objection to The Commentator's mission to advance the interests of students through a factually founded approach to journalism. She laments, "I don't think that everyone has a need to know." The Commentator understands that Yeshiva, as any university, has yet to achieve institutional perfection. A powerful voice concerned to maintain student rights is required to point out instances of abuse and assure administrative accountability. The Commentator is proud, not ashamed, to play this role. In the words of Bertolt Brecht, "Right is its own defense."

It is puzzling that Ms. Jacobs does not with her own publication honor the notion that a student newspaper should advocate the cause of its readers. Perhaps she is unaware of the existence of YU Today, the University's public relations periodical, and thus does not recognize The Observer's redundancy.

In her column, Ms. Jacobs curiously seeks to present a false dichotomy between publishing "scandalous events" and providing tedious, uninformative coverage. The appropriate approach, as readers of The Commentator will recognize, resides somewhere between Jacobs's polar extremes. The Commentator eschews "gossip-mongering" yet steadfastly insists on reporting news that relates to the plight of students even when it causes the administration discomfort.

Broadly, it is our view that the exercise of journalistic responsibility of necessity entails furnishing students with an honest account of the Yeshiva experience rather than a bland rehashing of public relations press releases. This is our "journalistic standard." While we recognize that unblinkingly bearing the truth is not always popular with those who would prefer not to confront it, we are patently unwilling to depart from our principled approach. Perhaps in this commitment we differ from The Observer. The Commentator insists on placing its duty to the students before currying administrative favor.

It is in the above vein that The Commentator has this year begun to undertake, with the support of YCSC, credible activist efforts in the behalf of student interests. Recognizing that the University was not sufficiently responsive to student safety concerns with relevance to Amsterdam Avenue, The Commentator organized a 250 student demonstration which successfully prodded reluctant administrators in the right policy direction. The Commentator also emancipated the Danciger Quadrangle from the dominance of the campus security apparatus so that students may utilize it for recreational purposes.

Ms. Jacobs concludes her column by absurdly invoking Hebrew National style "higher authority" language. Like the celebrated frankfurters, however, her claim is not quite kosher. "We are bound by a higher code of ethics," she believes. I will presume that Ms. Jacobs hopes this suggestion will pass for some sort of religious argument in condemnation of some unspecified aspect of The Commentator's content. But surely she must know that her words are vague and theologically meaningless. Her words may be an NCSY d'var Torah, but a coherent Jewish theological contention they are not. I invite Ms. Jacobs to revise and extend her remarks in this regard in order that we may better understand what she means.

And thus Ms. Jacobs concludes her frustrated tirade.

It seems Ralph Waldo Emerson anticipated Ms. Jacobs when he observed, "You will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it." While I am flattered that The Commentator so consumes Ms. Jacobs's attention, I am confident that her efforts would be more profitably directed to mending her own flagging experiment in journalism rather than advancing spurious claims to censure a sound product that serves students well.

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