Questioning the role of the Phoenix

I was extremely disappointed, upon opening this week’s issue of The Phoenix, to find Alex Rolle’s story “Student issued citation after Genderfuck.” While the piece is dynamic and well-written, and Mr. Rolle is undoubtedly a talented reporter, I question the reasoning behind pursuing (much less publishing) this story in the first place.

Whether or not The Phoenix chooses to print stories with all the tawdry details, it’s a reasonably well-known fact that alcohol citations are regularly issued to Swarthmore students. So, what makes this particular incident different? Arguably, the dispute over the exact story of the event has echoes of homophobia (or at least “partying-college-student-in-a-dress”-phobia) on the part of the Borough police department. But since when is it the duty of The Phoenix to publish speculation about details that, to everyone other than the parties immediately involved, will never truly be known? Moreover, why should The Phoenix become a mouthpiece for a legal dispute between a student and the Borough police that, ostensibly, involves no one but those two parties?

As I see it, the fundamental issue to be addressed here is: what role is The Phoenix supposed to fill on campus? Is it a reliable source for campus news, commentary, opinions and features, or a sounding board for gossipy students looking for new dinner conversation? As an ex-editor, I’d like to believe the former. But this particular story has left me wondering whether we’ve gone in the wrong direction.

Journalism at Swarthmore has always aspired to a higher standard than, say, posts on The Daily Jolt (back in its heyday, at least). I only hope that The Phoenix will continue to set its sights that high, and away from entertaining but ultimately irrelevant stories such as this one.

Yoel Roth ’11