After reading this article, [“UFV Theatre department steals from students”], I cannot contain my shock; it is an embarrassment to The Cascade and to the university as a whole. Not only does Mrs. Colbourne insult the countless amount of hours of effort put in by the staff and students of the Theatre Department, she also dirties her own newspaper’s reputation with tabloid journalism. I don’t know what this department has done to make her feel so strongly against us, but it gives you no right to publish stories attempting to slander our work.
As for the editors of this paper, I understand your want to publish articles that encourage discussion and response among the student body, but there is a fine line between tact and immaturity. You are university students, some of whom I’m sure are pursuing a career in journalism, and as such I would assume you would take a professional approach when selecting articles to publish. When I read a piece like this, I cannot help but feel like I am back in high school, reading the paper not because I am interested in what is happening in my school, but because I have nothing else to do.
We are a university and as such, we should be working together, and not attempting to backstab our fellow peers. A university community is what makes students become engaged and involved with their school, and that atmosphere is built when departments support each other and the university works as one body. This article is exactly the kind of thing that destroys our fledgling university community that we are trying so hard to foster.
I have read all of Mrs. Colbourne’s theatre reviews, and while I was quite disappointed in them, I kept my mouth shut, realizing that receiving bad reviews are just another part of this business and that it was my job to continue on performing to the best of my ability. However, after reading this – a blatant attack on a department that has, to the best of my knowledge, done nothing to seriously wrong Mrs. Colbourne, I could not hold my tongue further.
-Eli Funk
