Editorial: Poor Represention at UMass’s Daily Collegian

The Daily Collegian, the University of Massachusetts’s student newspaper, ran an editorial on Wednesday entitled, “Pat Tillman is not a hero: he got what he deserved” in which guest writer and UMASS grad student Rene Gonzalez suggested that the NFL star turned Army Ranger, Pat Tillman, was killed at the expense of “macho, patriotic crap” instead of heroics. It’s this kind of yellow, attention groping vilification that angers fellow newspaper staffs and spoils the name of student journalists on the national stage. We admit that in past years The Clock has been home to some rather racy and off-color comments, but has also, for four years now, strived to move from a tattered rag of unvarnished voice to a respectable college newspaper. It’s hard, and usually thankless work. Students like Rene Gonzalez push aside the efforts of student journalists here and at any other college or university when he displays such flagrant misperception of what soldiers like Pat Tillman have done. He is not a journalist. He is a childish attention whore vying for the storm of controversy surrounding his nonsense. The people who work on college newspapers work endlessly, and in most cases volunteer that time. We are full time students. We work part-time jobs. And when we can we put out a product we are proud of. People don’t go into journalism for the enormous paychecks. We involve ourselves in journalism because we have a vested interest in the events across the globe and right in front of us, and writing gives those issues a voice. Voices like Rene Gonzalez are not the same as ours. He uses a public forum to poorly chase after pipe dreams of fame and fortune, and in turn abuses his audience and space. He will not achieve false heroism while scrutinizing true heroes. We do not consider him a journalist. We don’t even consider him worthy of an opinion. The members of The Clock staff wish to send a message to writers like Rene Gonzalez: Go Away. You’re incessant bickering about topics of no real concern to you and sheds a negative light over all student journalists moving toward professional jobs. We don’t work hard all week to have it erased by bumbling dribble. Pat Tillman was a hero, and real journalists know how to say so.