I read with some humor the rather reactionary blasting of the Clarion editor-in-chief by George Powell (Class of 1966), a self labeled “student publications alum.”

With great passion, Mr. Powell derides the Clarion editor for committing the ultimate sin of actually not viscerally hating President George W. Bush simply because the writer is an editor of a college newspaper.

Mr. Powell then invokes the names of previous Clarion editors as examples of First Amendment giants that would, presumably, never have engaged in such editorial blasphemy.

Evidently, Mr. Powell feels that only anti-Bush rhetoric is proper material for college newspaper editorials, while anything that resembles agreement with this President on any subject is nothing more than being “fawningly subservient.”

It is also interesting that, as a “student publications alum,” Mr. Powell finds it acceptable to name previous Clarion editors as proponents of his way of thinking without, evidently, contacting those editors to document properly their opinions on the matter. Such is a sad commentary on Mr. Powell’s journalistic ethics.

And that he aims such unfounded weapons against a Clarion editor well within his editorial rights and responsibilities to speak on a subject, only compounds Mr. Powell’s offense of the First Amendment. It’s time to grow up, Mr. Powell. And take a high school journalism class while you’re at it.

Sincerely,

Doug AntoonClarion Editor-in-chief, 1979