Yuri Castano | If it looks like censorship and sounds like censorship...

Following controversy surrounding their campus newspaper, the St. Joseph's University community is owed one more apology: the administration's.

The St. Joseph's student newspaper, The Hawk, was launched into a media frenzy when its editor in chief, David Spain, humbled himself on the front page of the April 4 edition. Spain published a letter apologizing for authorizing offensive content printed in the March 28 joke issue, The Squawk.

Tension and uncertainty unraveled in a meeting yesterday between St. Joe's president, Timothy Lannon, Provost Brice Wachterhauser, Spain and The Squawk's authors.

While no disciplinary action was taken against the students, the administration expressed the need for the newspaper to develop guidelines for future editions of The Squawk.

The Hawk has been through the ringer and made it out alive. Now its time for the St. Joe's administration to wash its own hands clean of questionable deeds.

St. Joseph's admissions office removed every edition of The Squawk from their office, only leaving behind the standard editions of The Hawk, which lay below the joke issue. The Squawk's content may have been disrespectful, but preventing the distribution of newspapers is downright dirty.

University spokeswoman Harriet Goodheart said it was the admissions office's prerogative to do away with copies of The Squawk, but she refused to elaborate why. When asked if it was wrong for them to tamper with material that student editors had deemed fit for publication, she was tight lipped.

"I believe I have already described what the University's reaction was," she said, evading the question.

Even regular versions of the newspaper fell victim, as a Squawk/Hawk combo mysteriously vanished from locations all over St. Joe's campus.

Technically, if the administration was involved at all in confiscating newspapers around campus, it had every right to do so. The Hawk exists thanks to a $60,000 loan the university fronts at the beginning of every year. The newspaper is required to repay at least $45,000 of the loan and often repays more if not all of the money, but not always. The paper is also dependant on the university for its offices in the Campion Student Center.

As long as St. Joe's is funding the paper, it can vandalize copies as it pleases, but in doing so it announces its commitment to a censored press. A free press means that anything published and distributed by a newspaper is sacred. Even if it is the worst garbage in the world it can't be destroyed or tampered with.

St. Joe's past support for The Hawk as an independent student news source makes its recent actions all the more disappointing. The administration has a strong history of not interfering with the newspaper.

Spain was adamant about communicating that - despite receiving loans from the university - The Hawk is not censored and doesn't feel any pressure from the administration to cover events a certain way. Even so, unless the administration apologizes for confiscating newspapers and chastises those responsible, it can never claim to support a free press.

While the university maybe okay with that, The Hawk shouldn't rest idle until the next time the administration decides to lord its power over them. The newspaper needs to stand up on its own six talons and fly, but to do so it needs some cash.

By slowly saving up money, The Hawk may be able to reach financial independence in four or five years, said Mary Kate Alber, The Hawk's managing editor.

As readers may have read in yesterday's joke issue of The Daily Pennsylvanian, our newspaper has seen its own days of censorship. On March 2,1962, with the approval of Penn's administration, copies of the DP were confiscated and burned, thus beginning the DP's quest to become financially independent from the University.

With the DP achieving financial independence in 1984, the benefits have been innumerable. Shawn Safvi, executive editor of the DP, said that censorship on the part of Penn's administration isn't a concern for him and it would be unfeasible for DP's to be confiscated on this campus.

The St. Joseph's administration displayed good judgment in refraining from disciplinary action against Spain and student writers. However, its prerogative to order an editor in chief to a meeting with the possibility of receiving punishment is telling.

If The Hawk were financially independent, Provost Wachterhauser would not have had the power or the right to force a student editor into his office without disclosing his intentions, and disciplining a journalist would be out of the question.

When it comes to student journalism, a newspaper is either on its own or under someone's thumb. No matter how liberal St. Joseph's has been and promises to be with The Hawk, financial dependence is always a tenuous position for a college newspaper.

Yuri Castano is a College sophomore from Mexico City, Mexico. His e-mail address is castano@dailypennsylvanian.com. Bringing the n Back appears on Wednesdays.

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