Letters To The Editor

Obviously, Prof. Sweeney does not believe the tenets of free speech apply

to business school students in general and the MSJ in particular. It is an embarrassment to me that a professor would try and influence any article posted in a student-managed paper, especially a subjective review of a service. What is next in the world according to Sweeney: sugar-coated auto reviews of GM cars because GM donates funds to the B-school or a totally objective paper living in fear of offending any past, present, or future corporate sponsor?

While Prof. Sweeny has the right to air his opinion, the Bill of Rights guarantees the editors of the MSJ the ability to publish a wide variety of content.

I support the MSJ editors in their decision to publish "ON-LINE ASSESSMENT: CompuServe Serves Little Value" and any other article that may possibly "offend" a corporate donor, becasue while we may lose certain services provided by the "offended" corporation, we CANNOT lose our right to free speech.

Rich Dresden
MBA1

To the Editor:

I would like to respond to the CompuServe Controversy which has

been raised in the last two issues of the MSJ. I agree with Professor Sweeney that the article by John Murphey was irresponsible the way it was presented. As John is listed as a Contributing Editor on the masthead of the MSJ, the Editor not only has the right, but the responsibility, to control how his non-editorial articles are written. As the original article was published under the heading "Corporate News," there is the responsibility to ensure that it is not biased. News is not editorializing. The heading "Corporate News" implies (at least to me) news which has appeared in other sources, or is generally accepted knowledge.

Paul Sweeney also raised the issue that actions have consequences. As CompuServe recruits at our school, what message does a one-sided article on their products tell CompuServe? Would the MSJ have been just as willing to print a half-page article slamming Procter & Gamble or S.C. Johnson's products, or how they market their products? How about an article disparaging the work of a consulting company?

Although we all have the right to say our opinions, we also have the responsibility to first ask ourselves how our words will be perceived. This is even more important given our setting in an institution which relies very heavily on the opinions of corporations. The MSJ may "function as an independent entity" (the MSJ's words), but it represents the student body when read by companies.

Steve Pert
MBA1