Dear Editor:

I am writing to share my concern about the biased reporting on the Sept. 24 UC walkout, as found on a UC Davis News Service Web page.

Please be clear with your readers that the faculty actions you designated as “covering” classes — including discussing the walkout with students and encouraging students to participate in Sept. 24 protest activities — were actually in solidarity with the walkout. If, as your Web page stated, “professors were teaching and students were learning” on Sept. 24, in many cases they were teaching and learning specifically about the walkout, aligned with the broader goal of educating our campus about recent administrative decisions and the importance of public education.

Additionally, the heading “students’ voice” referred readers only to the Aggie editorial that discouraged student support of the walkout. It failed to mention the Aggie’s other editorial piece, which was printed on the same page and was also written by UC Davis students, who clearly explained our reasons for supporting the walkout. Our campus community deserves fair and accurate representation of student opinions.

Please do not selectively represent the students’ voice as if all students on this campus have the same perspective, or as if the Aggie editorial staff’s statement speaks for the hundreds of students who gathered on the Quad on Sept. 24 in support of each other, our faculty, our staff members, and our public university system. We are also students with voices, and should be recognized as such.

Toby Beauchamp

graduate student in cultural studies