It has come to my attention that the article entitled “A plea for modesty” by a contributor, Chelsea Lightfoot, has received some backlash due to its publication in Wednesday’s edition of The Cougar Chronicle and has left some folks questioning as to why it was given the approval to be run.

As the student newspaper at Cal State San Marcos, we believe that it is our responsibility to reflect the diverse views and beliefs of the students, faculty, and staff that make up our campus. As Editor-in-Chief, I believe that one of the best ways to accomplish this is by including articles written by editors and staff, as well as contributors that are interested in participating in this process on one, or multiple, occasions. We support reflecting the campus community in an honest and straightforward manner, and incorporating their spectrum of thoughts into our articles, especially in the Opinion section.

While these stances may or may not be the popular view, we encourage each contributor, writer, and editor to feel comfortable expressing themselves and their beliefs in an honest and candid way. I believe that we effectively did this by including “A plea for modesty” within this week’s edition, as well as by including a counterargument article by Senior Staff Writer, Sarah Hughes, entitled “Modesty undressed.”

Both articles reflect the personal views of the individual, not the newspaper as a whole, and have addressed the opinions of two opposing sides of the issue. We included both “A plea for modesty” and “Modesty undressed” because they represent opposing views of a multidimensional issue that does affect women on a regular basis. We appreciate the constructive criticism that some of our readers have expressed to us via Facebook and our website, and will consider those views in our next set of argumentative pieces. We encourage both positive, and negative, responses to our work as it allows for our staff to grow in their writing abilities and how they represent their views. Our goal is to evoke critical discussion about the work that is published rather than print fluff pieces that bore the reader, so we are appreciative of the conversation that has started due to this backlash.

We encourage students that are interested in prolonging this discussion to join the conversation in the comments or write an article in response, critiquing why you believe differently than “A plea for modesty” or “Modesty undressed.” I also encourage students that are interested in discussing the article’s publication, subject matter, language, or any other problems to contact me via email at [email protected] to discuss the issue in more depth. I am also happy to meet with anyone in person so that readers that were upset with the article can voice their concerns in a more personal setting.

LINKS TO BOTH ARTICLES:

“A plea for modesty” By Chelsea Lightfoot (Contributor) – https://csusmchronicle.com/2014/09/a-plea-for-modesty.html

“Modesty undressed” By Sarah Hughes (Senior Staff Writer) – https://csusmchronicle.com/2014/09/modesty-undressed.htm

Thank you,

Katlin Sweeney

Editor-in-Chief

The Cougar Chronicle