Letter to the editor

Politics affect students' lives

The term “Fourth Estate” has been used to describe the press. The term was supposedly first used by the British politician Edmund Burke, who stated, “There were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters’ Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all.”

This importance continues past 19th century England; indeed the press is still necessary to our Democracy today. As students there are many bodies that affect our lives, the Voice commented in response to my letter of last week that “The Student Voice does have a reporter, Aaron Billingsley, covering the Student Senate.”

It would require a reporter to be Superman to be informed of all that Student Senate does and report on such. Direct evidence can be found in the article written about the Student Senate elections that failed to even mention the candidates for office. This is vital information relevant to an election. To delve deeper into the issue we should note that Student Senate is far from the only legislative body that affects our lives.

We, as citizens, have the power to influence policy. For us to be able to exercise that power we must know in advance what is being done by these bodies. The Student Voice, as our campus newspaper, can and should play the role of providing us with this vital information.

I enjoy much of the other coverage the Voice provides, but this remains the dessert. Hard news remains the meat of what we need the paper to provide. When budgets are limited the choice that must be made is to provide what is needed.

Dessert can come later.

Ben Plunkett
Student