Post by Jesse Morrell on Mar 3, 2006 15:38:23 GMT -5
THE UNIVERSITY STAR: Texas State University, San Marcos
Sign swiped from Open Air evangelists
By Zandria Avila
After almost a week of tension between Open Air Outreach ministers and Texas State students, an unidentified man attempted to steal a sign belonging to the ministry and one student alleged a member of the ministry assaulted him in the scramble to recover the sign on Thursday.
Jeff Olver and Jesse Morrell, members of Open Air Outreach, followed the man in pursuit of the sign. Though onlookers cheered the student on, the preachers returned to the free speech area by The Stallions with the sign in hand. Witnesses said they believed the theft to be a display of protest.
“The first thing I said to the student who stole our sign was, ‘God bless you,’ the second was, ‘I pray that God does not treat you as you have treated me,’” Morrell said.
William Taylor, undecided freshman, initially accused Olver of assaulting him during the scramble to retrieve the sign.
“I was standing in the middle of the crowd waiting to see if they caught the guy who took the sign when one of the preachers pushed me, saying: ‘Excuse me, brother.’ I then fell to the ground,” Taylor said.
Several students, as well as a political science lecturer Rick Holtzman, discussed the incident with University Police Department Officer Susan Stewart, who arrived on the scene subsequent to the alleged assault.
“I saw a dime-store preacher that drew this crowd, and his hired security (goons of salvation?), engage in something that bordered on the physical assault of students,” Holtzman wrote in an e-mail. “Yes, freedom of speech makes the exchange of ideas possible; it is the motor that drives education, but a real exchange of ideas does not demand the presence of goons, in fact it demands the very opposite.”
Stewart questioned Olver. After several minutes of debate as to whether or not Olver actually assaulted Taylor, Olver settled the dispute by offering Taylor an apology. Taylor, who described himself as “the bigger man,” accepted. Stewart then thanked Taylor for accepting Olver’s apology.
Despite the friendly gesture, Taylor remained unsatisfied with Olver’s response.
“He didn’t even look me in the eye when we shook hands,” Taylor said.
Olver claimed the incident to be a mere precaution against injury.
“The young man was in the path that I was running; and in order to keep myself from crashing into him, I put my hands onto his arm and moved him and myself in opposite directions so not to injure him. I did not initially try to harm him or push him. I profusely apologize for his falling,” Olver said.
Open Air Outreach travels to college campuses to preach the Christian gospel of Jesus Christ. On Thursday, Open Air Outreach was preaching against hypocrisy and sin.
“Many people are opposed to our message because they do not want to be told they are required to leave their sin. Understandably so, sin is pleasurable,” Olver said.
Some in the crowd did not oppose Open Air Outreach’s message, but disapproved of the approach.
“I am opposed to their delivery. Me being a Christian, I feel that it is a message of grace, not one of hatred and repentance and all those things that project a negative image of Christianity,” said Nathan Smith, music freshman.
Smith described how he would deliver the Gospel, if given the opportunity.
“Their method is one of repulsion and turning everyone away from them. The way that I was raised to spread the message of God is one of inclusion, not one of exclusion,” Smith said.
Steve Stevenson, music graduate student, also disagreed with Open Air Outreach’s approach.
“When I was a young Christian, a lasting message I received was: ‘We screw up every day, but there is always hope for us because God will forgive us if we ask him.’ I do not see them offering any grace or forgiveness; they are labeling us as sinners, sports freaks and scourers and tell us we are going to hell,” Stevenson said.
John Garrison, associate vice president of Student Affairs, had not received any official report of an alleged assault between Taylor and Olver as of Monday.
“The free speech area is open to anyone on campus; the occasion where we would get involved were if a P.A. system were in use disrupting classes,” Garrison said. “I am glad they got it worked out without law enforcement’s involvement. The manner in which it was resolved was good for each side.”
Garrison said he will investigate the incident further with UPD to inquire if it is necessary to bring it up with the Student Justice Department.
Story found at:
star.txstate.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1170&Itemid=39
Dear Readers
In Tuesday’s issue, we published an article by Zandria Avila (“Sign swiped from Open Air evangelists”) regarding an incident in which a member of the evangelist group Open Air Outreach pushed over a student while chasing a man who had attempted to steal a sign from the group.
In addition to accounts from the parties involved in the incident, the article quoted an e-mail that political science lecturer Rich Holtzman sent The Star on Thursday afternoon, in which Holtzman stated that he witnessed the incident.
When contacted by Avila via e-mail, Holtzman replied that the purpose his original e-mail, which was sent to the account generally used for letters to the editor meant for publication — starletters@txstate.edu — “was to offer (his) own observations about what does and does not constitute a quality educational environment” rather than as a witness’s account of the events. He also declined to elaborate on the events he witnessed, “other than what (he had) already written” in the letter. The reporter misunderstood this statement to mean that Holtzman understood the letter would be used in the story.
Regrettably, we published a quote from the letter in the article, it being the only account from an uninvolved party.
Certainly, letters to the editor may ethically be used as sources for news content — even without the author’s knowledge or permission — if the information used is necessary and appropriate to the story and cannot be obtained by other means. However, in this case, none of those conditions were met.
The excerpt from the letter did not provide any information other than what was already obtained from the two participants, nor was there a dispute between their accounts that the letter could resolve. Furthermore, the content of the letter, including the excerpt used, was more impassioned advocacy than disinterested testimony. Finally, the letter, written shortly after the incident and based on just a brief observation, contained a factual inaccuracy that was reprinted in the story and not qualified in the text. The quote described the evangelists who chased after the thief as “hired security” for the preacher who had been speaking when the incident occurred. They were not.
The use of this letter as a source for this story reflected both miscommunication and poor journalistic judgment on our part. We apologize to Mr. Holtzman, to Open Air Outreach and to our readers for this error. We will not let it happen again.
In order to give our readers a fuller understanding of this incident, we have included Mr. Holtzman’s original letter to the editor on this page.
— The Star editorial board
I saw something (Thursday) that really took me by surprise.
No, it wasn’t the crowd of Texas State students enthusiastically engaged in critical thinking and free speech under the big horses statue; although it was a breath of fresh air that hopefully will blow our way more often.
Actually, what I saw was the dimestore preacher who drew this crowd, and his hired security (goons of salvation?), engage in something that bordered on the physical assault of university students. Yes, freedom of speech makes the exchange of ideas possible; it is the motor that drives education.
But a real exchange of ideas does not demand the presence of goons — in fact, it demands the very opposite.
Rich Holtzman
lecturer, department of Political Science
Story found at: star.txstate.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1183&Itemid=39
Sign swiped from Open Air evangelists
By Zandria Avila
After almost a week of tension between Open Air Outreach ministers and Texas State students, an unidentified man attempted to steal a sign belonging to the ministry and one student alleged a member of the ministry assaulted him in the scramble to recover the sign on Thursday.
Jeff Olver and Jesse Morrell, members of Open Air Outreach, followed the man in pursuit of the sign. Though onlookers cheered the student on, the preachers returned to the free speech area by The Stallions with the sign in hand. Witnesses said they believed the theft to be a display of protest.
“The first thing I said to the student who stole our sign was, ‘God bless you,’ the second was, ‘I pray that God does not treat you as you have treated me,’” Morrell said.
William Taylor, undecided freshman, initially accused Olver of assaulting him during the scramble to retrieve the sign.
“I was standing in the middle of the crowd waiting to see if they caught the guy who took the sign when one of the preachers pushed me, saying: ‘Excuse me, brother.’ I then fell to the ground,” Taylor said.
Several students, as well as a political science lecturer Rick Holtzman, discussed the incident with University Police Department Officer Susan Stewart, who arrived on the scene subsequent to the alleged assault.
“I saw a dime-store preacher that drew this crowd, and his hired security (goons of salvation?), engage in something that bordered on the physical assault of students,” Holtzman wrote in an e-mail. “Yes, freedom of speech makes the exchange of ideas possible; it is the motor that drives education, but a real exchange of ideas does not demand the presence of goons, in fact it demands the very opposite.”
Stewart questioned Olver. After several minutes of debate as to whether or not Olver actually assaulted Taylor, Olver settled the dispute by offering Taylor an apology. Taylor, who described himself as “the bigger man,” accepted. Stewart then thanked Taylor for accepting Olver’s apology.
Despite the friendly gesture, Taylor remained unsatisfied with Olver’s response.
“He didn’t even look me in the eye when we shook hands,” Taylor said.
Olver claimed the incident to be a mere precaution against injury.
“The young man was in the path that I was running; and in order to keep myself from crashing into him, I put my hands onto his arm and moved him and myself in opposite directions so not to injure him. I did not initially try to harm him or push him. I profusely apologize for his falling,” Olver said.
Open Air Outreach travels to college campuses to preach the Christian gospel of Jesus Christ. On Thursday, Open Air Outreach was preaching against hypocrisy and sin.
“Many people are opposed to our message because they do not want to be told they are required to leave their sin. Understandably so, sin is pleasurable,” Olver said.
Some in the crowd did not oppose Open Air Outreach’s message, but disapproved of the approach.
“I am opposed to their delivery. Me being a Christian, I feel that it is a message of grace, not one of hatred and repentance and all those things that project a negative image of Christianity,” said Nathan Smith, music freshman.
Smith described how he would deliver the Gospel, if given the opportunity.
“Their method is one of repulsion and turning everyone away from them. The way that I was raised to spread the message of God is one of inclusion, not one of exclusion,” Smith said.
Steve Stevenson, music graduate student, also disagreed with Open Air Outreach’s approach.
“When I was a young Christian, a lasting message I received was: ‘We screw up every day, but there is always hope for us because God will forgive us if we ask him.’ I do not see them offering any grace or forgiveness; they are labeling us as sinners, sports freaks and scourers and tell us we are going to hell,” Stevenson said.
John Garrison, associate vice president of Student Affairs, had not received any official report of an alleged assault between Taylor and Olver as of Monday.
“The free speech area is open to anyone on campus; the occasion where we would get involved were if a P.A. system were in use disrupting classes,” Garrison said. “I am glad they got it worked out without law enforcement’s involvement. The manner in which it was resolved was good for each side.”
Garrison said he will investigate the incident further with UPD to inquire if it is necessary to bring it up with the Student Justice Department.
Story found at:
star.txstate.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1170&Itemid=39
Dear Readers
In Tuesday’s issue, we published an article by Zandria Avila (“Sign swiped from Open Air evangelists”) regarding an incident in which a member of the evangelist group Open Air Outreach pushed over a student while chasing a man who had attempted to steal a sign from the group.
In addition to accounts from the parties involved in the incident, the article quoted an e-mail that political science lecturer Rich Holtzman sent The Star on Thursday afternoon, in which Holtzman stated that he witnessed the incident.
When contacted by Avila via e-mail, Holtzman replied that the purpose his original e-mail, which was sent to the account generally used for letters to the editor meant for publication — starletters@txstate.edu — “was to offer (his) own observations about what does and does not constitute a quality educational environment” rather than as a witness’s account of the events. He also declined to elaborate on the events he witnessed, “other than what (he had) already written” in the letter. The reporter misunderstood this statement to mean that Holtzman understood the letter would be used in the story.
Regrettably, we published a quote from the letter in the article, it being the only account from an uninvolved party.
Certainly, letters to the editor may ethically be used as sources for news content — even without the author’s knowledge or permission — if the information used is necessary and appropriate to the story and cannot be obtained by other means. However, in this case, none of those conditions were met.
The excerpt from the letter did not provide any information other than what was already obtained from the two participants, nor was there a dispute between their accounts that the letter could resolve. Furthermore, the content of the letter, including the excerpt used, was more impassioned advocacy than disinterested testimony. Finally, the letter, written shortly after the incident and based on just a brief observation, contained a factual inaccuracy that was reprinted in the story and not qualified in the text. The quote described the evangelists who chased after the thief as “hired security” for the preacher who had been speaking when the incident occurred. They were not.
The use of this letter as a source for this story reflected both miscommunication and poor journalistic judgment on our part. We apologize to Mr. Holtzman, to Open Air Outreach and to our readers for this error. We will not let it happen again.
In order to give our readers a fuller understanding of this incident, we have included Mr. Holtzman’s original letter to the editor on this page.
— The Star editorial board
I saw something (Thursday) that really took me by surprise.
No, it wasn’t the crowd of Texas State students enthusiastically engaged in critical thinking and free speech under the big horses statue; although it was a breath of fresh air that hopefully will blow our way more often.
Actually, what I saw was the dimestore preacher who drew this crowd, and his hired security (goons of salvation?), engage in something that bordered on the physical assault of university students. Yes, freedom of speech makes the exchange of ideas possible; it is the motor that drives education.
But a real exchange of ideas does not demand the presence of goons — in fact, it demands the very opposite.
Rich Holtzman
lecturer, department of Political Science
Story found at: star.txstate.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1183&Itemid=39