The Daily Californian

The seizure by the Student Government of the University of California (Berkley) of the student newspaper last Sunday was as ludicrous as it was unjustifiable. The newspaper supported a candidate for the office of representative-at-large on the Executive Committee of the Student Government (Michael Tigar), and while the paper's by-laws allowed it, the endorsement was quite unprecedented in the campus' politics.

The tempest that ensued was more notable for the heat rather than the force of its arguments. Despite the fact that all nine members of the senior editorial staff had signed the endorsement, Tigar's opponent declared that "a candidate must be on good terms with the editor" to get support. Tigar's later defeat, it would seem, should have taken the air out of the issue, but after a week the Student Government drew another breath and charged windily that the Daily Californian "had not pursued an editorial policy of honesty and decency." The President of the Executive Committee accused the staff of perpetuating an "in-bred philosophy," and the committee started publishing the paper and deciding editorial policy. Censorship is the usual way to force editorial changes, but the Student Government employed instead a do-it-yourself method. Neither device is a particularly effective means of ensuring journalistic responsibility.

Because the newspaper is supposedly published by the Executive Committee, the suspension was technically justified in its adsurd extremity. The endorsement may have been ill-advised, but such a peccadillo hardly merits a full-scale thunderbolt. Student Government elections are remarkable neither for their excitement nor their significance.

The Committee proved to be obstinate as well as impetuous. The President of the Californian requested that a "consultative board" of student publications discuss the problem or that the Committee exclude editorial policy from its jurisdiction. When the Committee refused, the editors of all student publications resigned in an admirable protest. Meanwhile, the original staff will print on the press of the University of San Francisco.

Several political clubs, including the Young Democrats, Young Republicans and the Student Liberties Union, have set up a California Committee for Freedom and Independence of the Student Press to work for a guarantee of editorial freedom for the paper. This measure is not a complete enough protection against interference, for there is never any reason for a student government to control any aspect of a campus newspaper.