In the early 1990s the courage of the Ithacan’s editors in taking on controversial issues began to attract national recognition. Selingo, who was editor in chief during his senior year, is now writing for the Chronicle of Higher Education and studying public policy in graduate school. The Ithacan is where he first became interested in and learned the ins and outs of higher education. One of his more memorable IC experiences came during his second year at the paper, when the Ithacan was given the 1993 National Pacemaker Award for overall excellence by the Associated Collegiate Press. "We won it at the [national college media convention] in Dallas. We felt out of our league and didn’t realize how good we were at that point," Selingo recalls.

But good they were, and ACP apparently wanted to acknowledge their tenacity and willingness to tackle tough subjects. Writers Beverly Goodman ’93 (now a writer at Red Herring magazine) and Chris Lewis ’93 (a reporter for the Record in northern California’s San Joaquin Valley) had published a story reporting several students’ accusations of sex-ual harassment by a music professor. Several students came forward, and the professor was ultimately dismissed. "[Goodman and Lewis] did an unbelievable job reporting an issue that hadn’t been talked about --- at least not on this campus," says Will Rubenstein ’94, then editor in chief. "There would have been no story without some unbelievably courageous women. The absolute courage of those women to talk about what happened to them while they were at Ithaca College is incredible. We were charged with the responsibility of reporting it in a fair and sensitive manner."

Despite a display case full of awards and trophies --- including several honors from the Society of Professional Journalists; the prestigious Gold Crown Award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association; and the Pacemaker --- the Ithacan frequently meets criticism for misquoting sources, getting the facts wrong, and other journalistic shortcomings.

September 2000 saw the biggest controversy in recent years when the paper ran an editorial asking for the elimination of the College’s Bias-Related Incidents Committee. The com-mittee, composed of students, faculty, staff, and administrators, had been formed in spring 1997 in response to a disturbing spate of discriminatory acts on campus. Its mission: to ensure the proper investigation of such incidents and to raise awareness of bias incidents --- typically homophobic, anti-Semitic, or racially-motivated graffiti --- by posting weekly "bias alert flyers" throughout campus (and, for a time, in the Ithacan).

The editorial, printed September 14, accused the committee of censorship. It read in part, "The Orwellian concept of a campus ‘thought police’ patrolling for unacceptable speech runs counter to this college’s obligation to stand for free expression and exchange of ideas. . . . In the arena of ideas, it is a mistake to fight intolerance by suppressing free speech." It went on to call incidents of bias "trivial" and claim that the committee was squelching free speech.

Not a very well considered opinion, in the eyes of many. Despite the anger it incited, the editorial did have at least two positive effects: the controversy reinvigorated student interest in reading the Ithacan, and it spurred what some considered long-overdue conversations about diversity, acceptance, and bias on the Ithaca College campus. The College organized a community discussion about bias incidents. Students could be heard discussing tolerance and acceptance as they walked to class or hung out in TV lounges.

Initially, the Ithacan editors decided to let things go without response. Although they nominally cosponsored the community discussion, they did not provide a representative to sit on the panel. Some editors felt that the audience would simply use them as a punching bag and would not listen to what they had to say. Others said the harsh response to the editorial had affected their confidence. While several believed their opinion piece should have been revised before publication, they also felt an obligation to defend the paper. Eventually, they decided to run a second editorial to clarify their points. The second editorial acknowledged the hate and ignorance behind bias crimes but maintained that the Bias-Related Incidents Committee merely attempts to stop certain expressions instead of squelching harassment. The editorial suggested that individuals --- not the institution --- are responsible for stopping hate speech. An ad hoc task force of concerned students, staff, and faculty held a follow-up discussion on the subject this semester and is preparing a list of recommendations for changing College policies on bias.

The students at the Ithacan say they scrutinize the paper more than their readers do. Case in point: assistant news editor Stapleton says she covered a speech for both the paper and a journalism class. The teacher gave her an A, but during the editing process --- which consisted of readings by the section editors, chief copy editor, managing editor, and editor in chief --- she revised it five times before everyone felt it was good enough for print.

On the other hand, earlier in the year a new writer took on a story about students living in temporary housing. There were several parts of the story that didn’t seem to make sense --- and turned out to be inaccurate --- but the story nevertheless passed through the editing process. "We should have double-checked facts. There were a lot of problems with it. It’s something to learn from," says Stapleton. "Everyone makes mistakes on the job. Journalists especially need to be more careful, but we’re not infallible."

John Hochheimer, associate professor in the television-radio department, says that while student journalists --- just as professionals --- will make mistakes, it’s important that they take their role as reporters seriously. "We could all use a good dose of heightened sensitivity and awareness. It’s important that journalists do a fair and robust job," says Hochheimer, who teaches two upper-level communications courses that all journalism students must take.