How little things change...

[naraht]

From the Winter 1975 Phi Kappa Psi Shield

Because of a recent tragedy at Monmouth and the resulting news coverage,
Alex De Noble wrote the following letter
to the news media. It is re-printed here
for your interest.
"Dear Media:
In reference to your recent coverage
of the pledging incident here at Monmouth College, I, as a concerned student
and member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, want you people to know my reactions.
I must say, your coverage was certainly
sensational! You made it seem as though
William Flowers was intentionally made
the victim of foul play because of his
race; you made it seem that the entire
function of a fraternity is to haze pledges;
and you made it seem that fraternities
are worthless organizations.
In light of all this, I am calling on you
to take stock of yourselves, just as you
are calling on us, the fraternities, to take
stock of ourselves, and evaluate what you
have done.
Where is the justice here? A terrible
tragedy happened in one of our fraternities and right away you people invade
us with cameramen and reporters and
television equipment. It appears to me
that you people thrive on such news
items.
But I openly ask you: Where are your
cameras and reporters when Zeta Beta
Tau runs its annual dance marathon for
cancer, or when Alpha Phi Omega runs
its blood drives, or when Phi Kappa Psi
runs its canned food drives for Thanksgiving and party in the hospital wards
for Christmas?
I know that you will probably read
this letter and soon after, discard it. But
if you have any sense of decency and fair
play, you will publish it, or read it over
your stations and let the public know
that there are two sides to every coin.
In looking back on this past week, I've
reassessed my opinion of the media. Maybe there was something behind Agnew's
statement concerning media sensationalism.
Yes, we must have freedom of the
press, but that freedom does not give
the press the right to warp public opinion."
ARTHUR KLEHM, Correspondent