Fox 5’s news coverage annoys me to the point of inarticulation. The obvious agitation of student fear and insecurities are being used as grounds to discredit the purpose of the university’s existence. Fox 5 is never present to amplify the positive things happening at the university, but is the first on the scene to syndicate every perceived shortcoming and flaw.
The investigative reporting is factual, but “facts are useless, they can be used to prove anything.” The lack of objectivity, perspective and inappropriate comparison to other universities is troublesome and disrespectful. Stressing the buzz phrase “tax payer’s money” to infuriate district residents seems to be a reiteration as to why UDC’s subsistence is superfluous. Could it be part of an elaborate plan to render the flagship, and its accomplishments null and void?
Fox 5 has a robust reputation for skewing the news and leaning far right in its political stance. Although false, the reputation of UDC being a place where “underserved” students who couldn’t get accepted into other universities are given honorary degrees is rampant among the conservative and wealthy crowd in the District. What really triggers their disdain, however, is that UDC graduates are actually in competition for the better-branded universities of the District such as Georgetown and Howard.
This is why you get characters such as Mark Fisher discrediting the need for a public 4- year university. The perceived goal for DC’s bourgeoisie and our city’s elite is to have UDC as a university that only produces blue-collar worker bees. This is a direct answer to why Fox is never available to promote anything positive. Even though UDC student’s are given nothing, we sequester the media’s condescending hype so that we will not be viewed upon as an under achieving, under-performing, subpar student body who in results of such lack of academia, had to end up at UDC. We allow them to glaze over our scholarship and service to further their own cause. In an act of cowardly self-defense, we hide behind their notion that somehow if you publically denounce and disassociate from President Sessoms and his work, you would be unable to see that you are being disrespected simultaneously.
As students we must be critical of outsider’s opinions and perspectives, especially the extremely political, who instigate public reactions to catalyze their own ulterior motives. When I protested and slept in freezing temperatures opposing the tuition increases along with William Kellibrew and Joshua Lopez, it wasn’t because right wing media told me I should be upset about the proposed changes; it was the decision of the students themselves. Do I agree with the President’s politics and policy decisions? No. However, he is my proxy and I will question his agenda when I decide it is appropriate – not at the suggestion of those trying to make me complicit in my university’s demise. This hen is awake and vigilant.
Read the Canterbury Tale of the Nun’s Priest (The Fox’s Flattery), please visit: http://bit.ly/FoxFlattery
