Notre Dame's Student Newspaper's Refusal to Publish Truth

'I wanted to let you know why we chose not to run your most recent submission in Tuesday´s Observer.'

SOUTH BEND, IN (Catholic Online) - (We present the letter sent to Professor Charles E. Rice refusing to publish his regular column entitled "Right or Wrong" - apparently due to its subject matter. We follow it with the Professor's response. To borrow an old legal maxim from the field of Negligence law "Res ipsa loquitur", the thing speaks for itself.

To our readers, note the salutation. Professor Charles rice not only holds a JD and an LLM, he also holds a J.S.D., the highest academic Law Degree. He is Dr. Rice, and it is a title well deserved. To not use it reflects, in our opinion, derision and disrespect. Deacon Keith Fournier, Editor in Chief ) ***** Dear Mr. Rice, I wanted to first introduce myself as Matt Gamber, the new Editor-in-Chief of The Observer. Thank you for your continued hard work and contributions to The Observer´s Viewpoint section. Second, I wanted to let you know why we chose not to run your most recent submission in Tuesday´s Observer. First, it far exceeded our word limit guidelines, which I understand our Viewpoint Editor, Michelle Maitz, has shared with you in the past. Our daily space limitations require that we enforce this word limit, and we would appreciate your attention to this limit in the future. Also, I personally had some concerns with the content of the column, particularly considering The Mobile Party comic incident earlier in the semester at The Observer. While your piece was well-researched and I trust the information was factually correct, I did not feel it lent itself to creating a productive discussion, all things considered. I was a bit concerned with certain language as well. In the future, if you would like to examine this topic, we thought it might be beneficial to do so in a point-counterpoint format, perhaps with an author of an opposing or differing viewpoint. That way, each "side," to speak, would have the opportunity to present relevant facts, evidence and analysis to define its position. As I began, I again thank you for your contributions to The Observer. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this decision, and I look forward to working with you in the future. Matt Gamber

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