WESTERN SHORES

From the West comes the news that the student government body of the University of Oregon seeks to control the editorial policy of the Oregon Emerald, the university daily. This move against the freedom of the Emerald is an outgrowth of editorial criticism directed against the A. S. U. O., whose retaliatory attack takes the form of a proposed undergraduate publications board dominated by the associated students' president. The new board of censorship would pass judgment on all editorial policies of the Emerald, and shelter its sponsor from unwelcome criticism.

The action of the A. S. U. O. is reminiscent of the appeal to the press made by Mr. Coolidge on the first of January, in it the President urged that the gentlemen of the press cease to criticize the administration in its Latin-American policy, and condemned such action as injurious. The absurdity of such an attempt to muzzle the press was patent from the start.

Resentment of unfavorable comment on the part of the Oregon undergraduate body has led to a parallel situation, Irritated by the hostile criticism it attempts to justify its suppressive tendencies with the phrase "to prevent disagreement". It would deny to the Emerald the opportunity to exercise one of the prime functions of an undergraduate publication that of moulding opinion, granting it only the right of reflecting the popular sentiment of the "student leaders".

It is unfortunate that the Emerald should be forced into a campaign to insure for itself the obviously necessary and inherent right of freedom of the press.