Click here to read Ricky Maranon's article, "OSDS interrupts Student Congress Meeting"

I must say I am embarrassed by the quality of journalism produced in the article “OSDS Interrupts Student Congress Meeting.” I attended this meeting neither as a Student Congress member, nor a member of OSDS, and can honestly say the article published today was biased in every way possible.

While it is undeniable that OSDS was forceful in their comments, it is inaccurate to say they “interrupted” during the meeting. The leader of the organization spoke after raising his hand, after a time set aside for questions. However, it is to be noted that however forceful OSDS’s comments were, they were obviously not forceful enough, because the Student Congress refused to listen to their remarks on the record during the meeting.

I believe the newsworthy information about this meeting was not the interruption, but instead the resistance of our student representatives to hear their constituents.

Chairman John Jennings said there wasn’t time in the meeting to listen to their comments during the question period because there were immediate issues to be handled. The “immediate” issues he covered during this time were the pressing issue of beverages before or after the meeting, a thank you to Dave Annis and a three minute discussion of a possible new election chair.

There were relevant topics, for instance when the board members discussed some of their plans, however this portion of the meeting lasted no longer than ten minutes.

The last portion of the time was spent debating whether or not the Congress had time to hear the complaints of the students. This argument took over 20 minutes, longer than it would have taken to actually let them speak. Only a handful of Congress members recognized the ambush of audience at the meeting as something positive.

This raises the question, what is the Student Congress for if not to hear what the students have to say? What is the point of holding public meetings for the student body if they have no voice in them?

The counterargument to this would be we elected these representatives, and they are our voice. This isn’t true in all cases; some offices ran unopposed and were appointed, meaning students have no voice in their government at all.

UOSA wants students to get involved and have a voice but doesn’t give them the opportunities to do so. The newsworthy portion of this meeting is perhaps Tuesday night proved democracy doesn’t exist at all at OU.

Furthermore, what is the point of having a newspaper at OU if the news it provides is biased? As journalists, the position of The Oklahoma Daily is to provide accurate information to its audience, without a bias. This article forces readers and students like me to question the credibility of the paper as a whole.