Some campus newspapers reject political endorsements

By Aaron Lee
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Published: October 30, 2008

Virginia’s college students may have registered to vote in unprecedented numbers this year, but many won’t have their campus newspapers suggesting who to vote for.

Newspapers have a long tradition of endorsing candidates but some college editors said picking candidates is not part of the role they play.

“I think the reason for a newspaper to endorse someone is that they have some kind of access to a candidate that the public doesn’t have,” said Daniel Colbert, executive editor of the University of Virginia’s Cavalier Daily.

But while Colbert said the Cav Daily is not endorsing candidates, the paper has, in recent months, allowed room for student-led groups of Democrats and Republicans to argue policies proposed by presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain.

At Virginia Tech, David Grant, editor-in-chief of the Collegiate Times, said the paper’s columnists have argued in recent months for, or against, McCain and Obama, but that the paper does not traditionally endorse candidates.

He said he didn’t feel like an endorsement would make much difference, and that students do not come to the Times to get a national fix of politics, but rather to dig into local issues, such as limited student housing.

On the other side, the College of William & Mary’s newspaper, The Flat Hat, has drawn some criticism for endorsing three Democrats.

In support of Obama the paper wrote: “After four years under President George W. Bush, Americans need a deliberator - not a decider - in the Oval Office. As much as McCain may distance himself from the current president, his vice presidential pick and campaign suspension bespeak a decision-making strategy that is, in a word, rash.”

The Hat also endorsed former Gov. Mark R. Warner, a Democrat, for U.S. Senate and Bill Day, who is running for Congress.

On a message board at the Flat Hat’s Web site, one person wrote: “I’ll admit - I’ll be voting for Barack Obama next week ... but nevertheless, I don’t feel it’s the Flat Hat’s ‘job’ to ‘endorse’ or to be bias, especially in this upcoming election.”

While another wrote: “Well, the staff seems pretty moderate, judging by their statements about having to really think long and hard about who to vote for ... But, hey, at least even moderates can agree that Democrats are where it’s at this election.”

Tim Chapman, editor-in-chief at James Madison University’s The Breeze, said he and two other editorial board members decided against endorsing candidates this year because they could not reach a consensus about who to pick.

But a majority rule worked for others.

Patrick Austin, editor-in-chief of Old Dominion University’s The Mace & Crown, said the paper’s nine-member editorial board endorsed Obama for president, Warner for Senate and Republican Thelma Drake for the U.S. House of Representatives for the Norfolk area.

Warner was the only endorsement that received unanimous support from the board, but Austin said he has not been able to gauge whether the majority of ODU students are leaning left or right this political season.

What he does know is that many are primed for the election, period.

“I was asked if I was registered to vote at least 70 times,” Austin said of being on campus this fall.

Jennifer Schmidt, editor-in-chief of The Liberty Champion, said the Liberty University paper would not be endorsing although she felt the majority of students at Liberty are leaning toward McCain.

“I was just really pushing to stay fair and balanced,” Schmidt said. “We’re a paper for the entire university.”

With that, she also gets the sense from students that the campaign has dragged on too long.

“I think that they’re really, overall, tired of the whole process,” she said.