The Brown & White

One of the benefits of a comments section on The Brown and White's Web site is that it allows dialogue with the paper's staff and with the community at large.

The result is a jumble of alumni, staff, faculty, students, parents, Lehigh Valley residents and even people with no connection to Lehigh exchanging ideas and commentary.

Of course the exchange is not free - comments are moderated - but overall you will notice the student-run paper has no remorse publishing harsh critiques.

This exchange helps improve the paper and educates the journalists-to-be. Consequently, a stronger campus paper, trying to keep power in check, makes Lehigh a better institution. But this dialogue yields another benefit: It allows us to see what people are thinking.

Some might say the representation is not statistically accurate and those who choose to post are of a certain predisposition. This is true, but partial anonymity allows the attention-wary to add their two cents with less anxiety.

This paper and the comments on its Web site cover it all. Nothing is taboo: sex, racism, drugs, gambling, poverty; it's all there. Prudes and shortsighted technophobes will snarl at the gaudy vocabulary, and some of this scolding is deserved.

But the free speech and laissez-faire attitude of the paper, and especially the comments section, exemplifies what academics tout. Outside of the classroom, the comments section is the nexus of educated discourse. Let us not waste this opportunity.

If the administration wants to provide proper services, may they be educational or commercial, they should read the paper's online comments section. This exchange of grievances and rebuttals are the key to Lehigh's success.

Blackboard, academic blogs, expensive surveys are now redundant. Finally, those in charge of student life can stop groping at what it is like to be x-type of student. They can just plug in and see the world with student eyes. No longer can administrative ignorance placate student complaints or excuse its egregious idealness and naiveté. Progress and improvement are now at their fingertips.

Will they take advantage of this wonderful tool? Time will tell. But the onus is not only on Lehigh's administration and Wizard-of-Oz trustees; it is also on the students.

The responsibility of creating a venue where speech runs free and ideas are exchanged with respect weighs on the shoulders of The Brown and White staff. Their burden - for which they get academic credit - is to cover news that is relevant to a better Lehigh.

The staff also needs to shy away from slogans, dogma and cookie-cutter narratives. Nothing good can come from a paper that promotes conformity and cowardice. The Brown and White's editors need to review their ethical standards, trust their judgment and stick to their decisions.

The comments section will never be a vibrant forum if the articles are shallow, unprofessional and half-hearted.

But the onus is also obviously on you, the reader.

I applaud the alumni for putting current students in their place. Time and again, I have read comments by alumni that set expectations high and remind us Lehigh is only as good as students' efforts. The alumni also help us keep things in perspective. Thanks to their insights, we are reminded our four-year stay here is not in a vacuum.

The comments section, just as Lehigh as a whole, is a part of globalization. As time goes by, we become more connected to all humans, with or without the Internet. The only way to become responsible world citizens and benefit from our time on campus is to talk to each other respectfully, but also with conviction and honesty.

The comments section is what you make of it. I invite you all to post on the paper's Web site. Analyze each story on a case-by-case basis. Form your opinion free from all labels and stereotypes. Judge each issue on its own merit.

Finally, celebrate a freedom not enjoyed across the planet by posting your opinions online. But do so with the maturity and intellect that a Lehigh education represents.

And never forget: they're watching.

Olivier RTD Lewis is a fifth-year international relations, French and journalism major. His column, Beyond Good and Evil, appears alternate Tuesdays.