The University of St. Thomas student-run newspaper has been at the center of controversy amid resignations, accusations of censorship and conflict between the editors and administration.
For more than 60 years, the Cauldron has operated as an independent, student-run publication dedicated to serving the student body of the private university. In May 2007, UST’s Student Government Association passed a bill that would serve as the foundation for the Cauldron’s current situation.
Under the bill, the Cauldron and other student publications previously funded by UST’s Student Organization Committee would receive funds from a separate publications fee, and the newly implemented Student Publications Committee was to set a budget, staff salaries and oversee the paper’s operations.
Outgoing Cauldron editor Layla Amber Chemam said the SPC had other intentions.
"For years the Cauldron did what a good newspaper should do; it sought to report current events at UST in an honest, unbiased and fair manner," she said. "The reason a publications board was deemed necessary was that certain administrators had had it with a paper that reported stories they considered ‘critical’ of the university."
UST Dean of Arts and Sciences and SPC chairman Dominic Aquila said the committee, created in Spring 2008, has no interest in controlling what the Cauldron publishes.
"The SPC oversees the apportionment of student publication fees, encourages entrepreneurial thinking, ensures rigorous standards in the craft and ethics of journalism and communications and acts as a forum for advising and discussing issues that arise in the course of publishing," he said.
Contention between the Cauldron and administration is over whether the editors are permitted to cover every issue without suffering a backlash from the administration. UST is a conservative Catholic institution, and during the past two years disagreements concerning the university’s Catholic ideals have surfaced.
In February 2008, pro-choice advocate Dolores Huerta’s campus speech was cancelled and a speaker policy committee was formed to create guidelines on future invitations.
A gay student’s sexual poem was, because of miscommunication, published in the spring issue of UST’s literary magazine Laurels. Editors were then instructed to rip the poem out of every issue before distribution and when the Cauldron considered publishing the poem they were dissuaded by UST President Robert Ivany.
In an editorial discussing the paper’s decision not to publish the poem, then editor in chief Chester Soria said although no direct threats of punishment were made he did not want to disturb the newspaper’s future.
"To cross the line would jeopardize the Cauldron’s future as a student-run newspaper that serves the UST community," Soria said.
Aquila said no disciplinary action has ever been threatened and he’s never received claims from student editors concerned about disciplinary action for printed content.
"The SPC has never used or cautioned students with disciplinary action for any stories appearing in UST publications" Aquila said.
Soria said while students covering negative stories about the university have never received threats he’s disconcerted by the board’s intentions.
"The concern of those of us worried about the board isn’t that it is stomping on a free student press, but that it does nothing to guarantee a free student press," Soria said.
Nicole Casarez, a communications professor at UST, served as a Cauldron faculty advisor for 20 years, giving assistance and input to the staff. Following the creation of the SPC, Casarez had concerns about how the paper should be run.
"My communication department colleagues and I, along with the student newspaper staff as well as a healthy contingent of former editors and alums, opposed changing the way the Cauldron had operated successfully for so many years.† We didn’t see what was broken that needed fixing," Casarez said.
Following attempts to make changes in the SPC’s personnel Casarez felt would better represent the Cauldron, her requests were ultimately denied and she resigned her role as advisor in May 2008.
"I could not wholeheartedly support the university’s version of the publications board and therefore should step aside," Casarez said.
Regarding the Cauldron’s future following Casarez’s resignation and the departure of much of the editorial staff, UST is adamant that the Cauldron continue publication after having completed their search for a new faculty advisor.
"We expect the Cauldron to be an exemplar of 21st century journalism… responsive to the needs of UST," Aquila said.
Former editors have expressed a debt of gratitude to the Cauldron and the experience it provided.
"My experience with the Cauldron was more valuable to me than any other I had at UST," Chemam said. "It is such a shame that the university didn’t respect the Cauldron or the students who built it up enough to leave it in their hands."
