Critical Eye, Critical Comment

Staff Editorial

It can take seconds to write something devastating. It can take hours, or minutes, for hundreds of people to witness it.

Maybe that’s extreme, but the Internet is a breeding ground for anonymous hate. And members of the UD community are no exception. When negativity floods YikYak, Twitter and Facebook when race on campus is addressed, and we attend a school with 8,226 students, of which 6,397 are white and only 243 are African-American, we need to at a bare minimum be asking why.

The word we need to question now begins with a G.

This debate over the ownership of “The Ghetto” is dividing not just students, but faculty, staff and alumni. Week after week, we’ve had submissions in our opinions section arguing for one side or the other of this issue. Week after week, the debate has turned dirty in tweets and comments on Facebook and online articles. When each side is preaching to the choir, no side gains ground. When words are straying farther and farther from a conversation and closer and closer to hate, everyone loses.

Flyer News is a platform to challenge what you and others think. It’s a space to foster dialogue, critically look at the world and interact with members of our community. We’d like to turn this debate back into a conversation. When our peers are hurt or uncomfortable, we should stop and listen to them—on both sides of the debate.

Once we understand why something is harmful, we can work to change it. Until then, let’s think twice before pressing “send.”

If you would like to submit an op-ed and contribute to this conversation or any other, email Opinions Editor Steven Goodman at goodmans1@udayton.edu.