The Observer wishes to express solidarity with the Asian Caucus’ desire to name the Asian American Scholarship after Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese peace and democracy activist who has been held under house arrest due to her protest against Chairman Than Shwe’s military regime. As the flag bearer for Western Civilization, The Observer will gladly honor her legacy using our editorial page.
We are, therefore, concerned with the response we received as a result of a minor criticism of the Asian Caucus. One particular op-ed simply wondered whether the failure to name a scholarship was a cause for outrage. In response, several individuals offered particularly malicious statements toward the paper. While we will not name names in order to protect the confidentiality of our critics, one person opined that “your opinion may just be libel,” a clear misunderstanding of “libel.” One individual went further, potentially suggesting that Observer writers did not have the right to publish criticisms of student clubs: “I will take this up with the university, but before you do that, I’d like to give you a chance to explain yourself or apologize to the Asian Caucus community.”
Throwing around accusations of libel and threatening to pursue disciplinary action over an opinion piece are highly inappropriate responses. In a university setting, and according to BC’s statement of student rights, everyone has the right to an opinion and an appropriate forum to express that opinion. Our writer did just that with his article. Asian Caucus members are free to criticize us. In fact, we encourage it. But throwing out libel accusations and asking the University to step in are outrageous sentiments. We will assume that these statements are not the official position of the Asian Caucus, and we hope the Caucus will echo our stand.
We hope the Asian American Scholarship can be named. The fact that it is nameless does leave some questions unanswered. We call on the Asian Caucus to continue respectful negotiations with University officials and find an appropriate name for the scholarship.
