SBP: July 14 – The Brick

Sometimes things don’t go exactly as planned, right? No matter how good your intentions may be…there are roadblocks. This is what happened last week when someone pointed out a racial slur on a picture published in The Brick. This immediately became something that had to be addressed. This message does not support the values of The Brick staff (or NC State University) and we have taken a number of corrective and preventative measures to ensure this does not happen again in the future.

The Brick is a book designed by students, for students to explain all the great things about NC State. It highlights a new Tradition Keeper program, where proving you completed 40 traditions will earn you a medal to wear at graduation. The book is supposed to be something to increase pride in being a part of the Wolfpack family. It became obvious to the team that worked on The Brick that wording in that image would not promote Wolfpack pride for every member of the NC State Community.

We included an interesting picture to show the tradition of painting the Free Expression Tunnel. Students wearing masks and protesting censorship created a unique image that was much better in comparison to typical pictures of tunnel painting. This photo ran in the Technician, so why wouldn’t we run it? Unbeknownst to us, the photo that ran in that issue was altered against photojournalism ethical standards. I can assure you that The Brick staff accidently included the message in the photo, we simply didn’t see it. We apologize for this error and did not intend for such material to appear in The Brick. We want the Free Expression Tunnel to continue to be an area for free speech, open debate and differing views, but it is important to share our opinions with respect for others so it neither hinders our personal growth nor our understanding of each other.

I believe in the importance of traditions and connecting new students to the University. I am proud of the hard work put into the book by members of the Traditions Commission and Student Media, including and especially those listed in the back of the book. We still wanted students to see the results of this hard work, so we decided that covering the term with a sticker advertising a new event would be the best way to keep the book in the New Student Orientation bags and in the hands of new students. The book returned to Orientation bags on Wednesday and Student Government is mailing copies to the new students who weren’t able to receive their copies at Orientation.

The event we are advertising, “RESPECT THE PACK,” will happen during Wolfpack Welcome Week and the goal is to promote unity, traditions, and painting in the tunnel. It’s an opportunity for new students to complete the tradition of painting the tunnel, and it’s an opportunity for everyone in the NC State community to stand against hate and support the real values of NC State.

So I’m asking you to join your fellow students and myself at “RESPECT THE PACK” on Aug. 16. I can’t wait to see you there!

Contact The Brick staff if you want to continue the discussion:
Chandler Thompson- sbp@ncsu.edu
Susannah Brinkley – slbrinkl@ncsu.edu
Andy Walsh – rawalsh2@ncsu.edu
Sam Dennis – sodennis@ncsu.edu