Nexus, Voice of the Community?

There is an old adage that goes something like this: never get into an argument with someone who buys ink by the barrel.  I hope that this article does not start a war of words between the Nexus and the Dark Side – it is not intended to do so.  

Over the years, the Nexus has published some great articles.  There have been a number of very talented writers who have written for the publication.  Many, many talented young people work countless hours to produce what is, overall, a great publication.  It can be informative and at times humorous – I read it all the time.  However, there are some blind spots in the publication – three in particular. 

 Sex 

At times the Nexus publishes what amounts to nothing more than loosely veiled smut in what appears to be a childish need to shock the adults (administration and parents).  Here are some Nexus articles that demonstrate this point:

 http://www.dailynexus.com/opinion/2002/3454.html 

http://www.dailynexus.com/opinion/2003/4787.html

 Many of the other sex articles are merely too childish to warrant criticism.  Unfortunately, it looks like the Nexus will continue the same vein in 2005.  While there are many pressing issues related to sexuality that need to be covered, these types of articles do absolutely nothing for the Nexus, the community at large, or the prestige of the university. 

Most people, even testosterone and estrogen laden college students, have much more to their lives than mere base sexuality.  In the real world, those who define their lives by constant, overt, and public mutterings about their sexuality are quickly marginalized or, at a minimum, relegated to near terminal embarrassment as they mature.  Informative articles about sex that are instructive, well-written, and pertinent are appropriate.  Some shock is good; too much is just too much. 

On the positive side, it would appear that this year's orientation edition was slightly better than last year.  Without specifically counting the words or article types, it appeared to us that this year’s edition did not have as much of the gratuitous sexual puerility as seen in the past – we think that is a good thing – it is a start in the right direction.   

UCSB’s Image

After UCSB was humiliated by the Princeton Review's ranking as number four party school in the country, the combined editorial board’s piece attempted to address the issue of the less-than-helpful “we’re number four party school” image proudly exuded by some students.  

 If a camel is a horse designed by a committee, the combined editorial board's attempt to address this embarrassment was a 17-hump camel.  The editorial board's editorial did not really address the issue, but rather, they danced around a serious issue with a failed attempt at cuteness.  

 Leadership

While sexual pandering and tiptoeing editorials may seem innocuous enough for a university student run newspaper, there is another substantial shortcoming, which is self-evident within the Nexus.  All this brings me to the Monday, September 26, 2005, edition.  The online edition featured a photo of the local coroner and the police lifting a body bag containing the mortal remains of Tyler VonRuden.  Tyler fell, jumped, or was pushed over a cliff sometime late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.  Given the history of deaths and injury from the cliffs, it would not be unreasonable to assume that the toxicology report on Tyler will show a high level of intoxication.  The article adjacent to that grim photo and “story” about Tyler's death was entitled, "Relatively Quiet Weekend for UCPD, IVFP as SB Students Return.”  This article then goes on to detail literally dozens of arrests and incidents that occurred over the weekend.  Here is the way the Nexus views the weekend: one death, one stabbing, over 35 arrests including, 8 drug related arrests, 24 alcohol arrests including several driving while intoxicated, public intoxication and multiple fights and a handful of urinating in public all add up to a good weekend.  What does a bad weekend look like in IV?  If any other similar size town in California had this level of lawlessness on a weekend, the local police would be calling for mutual aid. 

The Nexus should have raised some questions about Tyler's death:  Why had no one reported him missing?  Who was Tyler with immediately before his death?  What is even more horrific was the unexplored issue of why Tyler VanRuden's body lay undiscovered for hours.  The person who discovered his body, Alex Tapp, said, "VonRuden’s body was stiff, and appeared as though it had been on the beach for several hours.”  He said it was a shock that the body had not been discovered.  We agree.  Where were Tyler’s party buddies?  How many people saw his body before Mr. Tapp showed enough simple humanity to be concerned about a fellow human being laying unconscious at the bottom of a cliff on Sunday morning.  Perhaps IV has become the kind of place where there is so much inhumanity and headlong rushing towards non-judgmentalism that the student population of IV is simply unmoved by one more human body slumped to the ground in what most IV residents would write-off as “totally fucked up” (UCSB speak for “passed out drunk”).  Perhaps the suitheist culture of UCSB  (wherein they worship only themselves) does not see an issue here.  To them, seeing an unconscious young person lying around merely means that he must have made some "bad choices."  Please do not send emails to me about bad choices.  Tyler did not choose to die; he did not choose to fall over the cliff.  He merely choose to party in IV – a place where people are not merely allowed to party to excess, but are encouraged to commit excesses.

When a young man dies a senseless death within the UCSB/IV community, find out why he died or don't report it at all.  Try to find some social meaning that may stop the tragedy from repeating.  To merely report the name, time, and date of such a horrible waste is callous at best.  What really alarms me is the shear weight of coverage given to puerile nonsense as opposed to matters that have serious implications for the student body and the community.

 A young man dies in what is yet another senseless alcohol-related death and the Nexus will not even attribute it to what everyone knows was the root cause: the out-of-control IV party scene.  Why?  Because they simple do not want to point out what everyone knows: UCSB/IV can be hazardous to young people.  The Nexus doesn’t discuss this issue because to do so would be an indictment of the lifestyle they tolerate and even glamorize.  We waited five days to publish this editorial in order to see if the Nexus would revisit the death of Tyler VonRuden – sadly, they did not. 

We hope that the Nexus will consider its importance to the community and provide, at least in its editorial section, some positive leadership – maybe just enough to save one life.  

We hope that they will address some of the serious issues facing UCSB/IV and its student population rather than wallowing in an agenda-driven (or completely aimless, it is hard to tell which) orgy of potty-talk and painfully non-judgmental (except when they complain about the IVFP) reporting.    

 We hope that the Nexus does not go soft, but we do have some suggestions:

• remain trenchant and cutting edge
• lose the juvenile sexual nonsense 
• find a constructive editorial voice  
• stop swimming in the sea of non-judgmental mediocrity and high school salaciousness and write about something important.