The Saint

Story by Anna Benstead, Culture Editor

Editors Note: This article is in response to an article initially published covering an event that took place on our campus, an institution rooted in the Universal Roman Catholic faith. It violates Church teachings on both Fornication and Contraception (CCC 2353 and 2370). The Saint is committed to the Freedom of the Press under the Mission and Vision of Aquinas College to report with student writers and artists on creating quality stories that highlight the News of campus; including Culture, Student Opinions, Catholicism, Fine Arts, and Sports updates, and to engage and educate our Aquinas community through the discussion those stories inspire attributed to live virtuously for the common good.

There are 153 articles and 628,000,000 words that can be seen on the Saint webpage today– 363 words less than what was there Wednesday Nov. 29 since an article was taken down the following day.

On Nov. 30 of this week, an article published on Nov. 16 was taken down from the Saint website because it was “Antithetical to mission/Catholic teachings,” according to President Córdoba. What was the article? It was called “Spooky Safe Sex” and it covered the event of the same name hosted by Aquinas’ Advocating for Women’s Health and Safety RSO. AWHS’s mission is to “educate, inform, and speak the truth about women’s health,” so on Halloween they hosted an alliterative event giving away free condoms, cookies and cupcakes to promote protected sex in the recognition that college students are in fact having premarital sex. The AWHS does appreciate and understand that most Catholics do not believe in the use of contraceptives nor sex before marriage. Their intent was never to offend, only to promote safety.

The sixth article ever published to the Saint online was “Feeling Myself– An Ovary View” on May 26, 2015 in the opinion column. It revolves around the topic of how men and women are told to behave (or not behave) as sexual beings. A viewer on the website would have to click on the article to read any of the content, and the preview picture is of Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé so both are relatively harmless. After clicking on the article there is a small unbolded warning at the top– but a warning nonetheless– of explicit language used in the piece. A piece that has remained on the webpage for the past eight and a half years. 

The article taken down was published in the culture section of the Saint, so it is hard to compare it to the article mentioned above. What is important to note is that the Spooky Safe Sex article was not pushing an agenda, rather it was simply reporting on real events.

 The issue here folks is a matter of freedom of the press. Why is it that an event was allowed to have occurred but it cannot be covered in the Saint? The article was taken down within hours of the request but was done so in a way that meant most of the parties involved were not present in the conversation. This article’s purpose is not to place blame on anyone who was in disagreement with the article or the messages of AWHS, nor is it to criticize the newspaper staff. Its purpose is, however, to bring attention to events that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. 

Included in the article was a picture of a sidewalk-chalk sign reading “free condoms →.” This content would have been opt-in meaning a reader would not have access to the information unless they clicked on the article titled “Spooky Safe Sex.” It is true that there was no content warning or disclaimer as in the 2015 article, but seeing as it was covering an approved event that had occurred multiple weeks prior, there seems to have been less of a precedence. 

Photo courtesy of Iconfinder

Featured image courtesy of AWHS Instagram