for the love of lambuth

my college has been through a rough spell lately, and i haven't said much openly about it. well, that ends now. yesterday i got a forwarded message that contained a letter written from the interim president to the editor of The Jackson Sun, the local newspaper. even the most objective reader must confess that the paper's coverage of lambuth has been biased toward the negative slant of things. "failings" have made front page headlines while successes have barely gotten any coverage.

all the while, the paper's coverage of union university has been pristine. granted, union has been doing very well lately, and i'm thrilled for them. i applaud all that that university has done to establish itself as a nationally recognized faith-based school. but there's nothing in me that feels like i can't be happy for union and also want the best for lambuth. i want lane, jackson state, and west tennessee business college to excel also. a rising tide lifts all ships, eh?

but the paper seems to operate under the assumption that it can only support one college in the city and must pan (or ignore) the others. it was essentially like this in high school as well. the private schools got great coverage. the public school i attended, which won the state academic decathlon year after year, only made the news when a fight broke out. and so it goes.

well, i guess the interim president has had enough of the lousy treatment. he wrote an excellent letter to the editor. he questioned their motives for continually rejoicing in lambuth's struggles. i would do the same. do those that work at the newspaper not understand that the very survival of their livelihood depends on a literate community - at least to a point? let's say lambuth goes under. how does this in any way benefit the paper? fewer people in the community will be pursuing college degrees, and in all likelihood the overall education level of the community will decrease rather than increase - thus jeopardizing the paper's existence. newspapers are already going bankrupt left and right in this digital media age, why does the paper insist on pressing its luck?

i have a favorite word that few people at the paper may know - schadenfreude. it essentially means "harmful joy" - rejoicing in someone else's misfortune. it's a sick thing to do, and we've all probably done it a time or two. while few people at the paper may know it, it seems they are practicing it routinely in the case of lambuth. i would ask those at the newspaper to question their motives and, perhaps above all, their journalistic integrity. journatlists are to be as objective as possible - reporting, not commentating.

i have no idea if they'll print the letter the interim president wrote. probably not. nor do i know if they'll print the positive stories of recent alums such as me, but here goes nothing. i received an excellent education at lambuth. due in large part to the training i got at lambuth, i was offered a full scholarship to the divinity school at duke university. i'm not at all the exception; a fraternity brother of mine who graduated the year before me was also granted a full scholarship. two of my close friends are now studying at princeton theological seminary and yale's nursing school. all this is to say, the school is not a bad school - it just has faced some tremendous financial difficulties. it needs some help, especially with money, but in the words of my favorite band coldplay (kinda) "just because it's losing, doesn't mean it's lost." i hope more people in my community will discover this, perhaps even the paper, which for the moment at least does seem to have lost the plot.