The Mercury is a cornerstone of UTD. Since 1980 students have looked to The Mercury to stay informed about campus and to voice their opinions. Yet as of Sep. 16th, the entirety of The Mercury has gone on strike. So…what led to this?
Let’s start with a brief timeline of the events:
Sep. 13th: The Mercurys Editor-in-Chief, Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez was removed by the Student Media Operating Board (SMOB)
Sep. 15th: The Mercury Instagram is completely wiped, they released their strike statement, detailing their conditions and their timeline going forward.
Sep. 16th: They release three posts:
- An editorial piece, that detailed their stance and their reasoning.
- A news article explained Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez’s termination and alleged bylaw violations.
- A news slide informing the public that all of The Mercury’s official email accounts had been disabled
They also released their final print article, including the names of student organizations, community members, and students who show support.
Sep. 18th: The Mercury releases two posts:
- Their former editor-in-chief, Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez, submits an appeal for his termination, The Mercury has repurposed their Instagram, now going by the name comet.news
- Student Affairs refuses to let SMOB listen to Gutierrez’s appeal
Sep. 19th: The Academic Senate votes 23-4 and supports the Student Government stance on The Mercury
Sep. 20th: Student Affairs violates their own Bylaws, The Mercury rebrands to The Retrograde.
- They release “A Quick Guide to The Mercury’s Strike”
Sep. 21st: The Retrograde launches, a completely student-run publication with no University oversight.
UTD’s response to the strike has been abysmal. Not only have they failed to follow their own bylaws, but they have also neglected the voice of their own students and faculty. An administration that disregards its community cannot possibly run efficiently.
If this is to be broken down properly, it is obvious that this is another means of censorship. So far, UTD has used various methods to silence their students.
- The “Spirit Rocks”: A set of three stones students use to express their opinions and advertise different clubs. These rocks were removed when students began painting different flags for Palestine and Israel. They removed them because they believed they were causing too much “political discourse”.
- The protests: Students have participated in multiple peaceful protests this past year, pressuring UTD to divest from corporations that fund weapons. The university has not reacted kindly to these protests, even going as far as arresting 20 members of a protest encampment.
- Lastly, UTD has been interfering with The Mercury, ever since they began covering the protests and voicing their stance on Palestine. This includes demoting their interim director, Jonathan Stewart, shortly after their May 20th issue centered around the student protests on campus.
A student-run newspaper’s purpose is to allow students to voice their opinions, censoring newspapers is the first step toward a lack of free speech. UTD has clumsily handled the situation with The Mercury, by neglecting their own students’ and faculty’s opinion as well as violating their own bylaws, they have taken a stance and it is not with the students.
Retrograde will begin an online publication from this point forward. They are currently active on Instagram as @retrograde_news, be sure to go out and support them on this new journey!