On Oct. 23, 2025, the Weather Vane published an article regarding the Masquerade Ball hosted by two affinity groups, Latin Student Alliance (LSA) and Black Student Alliance (BSA). When I read the article, I was deeply frustrated to find that none of the people who were behind the creation of the event were interviewed. But my frustration heightened when I discovered a quote regarding the music at the LSA portion of our collaborative event.
I would not consider myself a journalist, but I have been taking News and Feature Writing for one of my fall classes this semester. Something that has been emphasized in that class is the importance of balance in journalism. Balancing an article is just as important as writing enticing news, and if you are a true journalist, your news should be enticing just because of your ability to write.
Another crux of journalism is the ability to select which quotes will be included in the piece, and knowing whom you should seek out to establish balance. I do not consider myself to be a journalist, but I do recognize the importance of journalism, and I am very strong at writing journalistic pieces. Although everyone has their own preferences and emphases in writing, some things should remain solidified across all forms of journalism.
Beneath the “Campus Life” portion of the paper, a staff writer of the Weather Vane, Perseus Warner, wrote an article titled “LSA and BSA Formal Dinner and Dance Party.” The article covered the event and selected first-years and sophomores for commentary. Towards the end of the article, there was a statement that perturbed the affinity groups who orchestrated the event. “The DJ focused on the idea of Latin music rather than playing good songs to dance to,” wrote Warner. Although this may be a sentiment from a student about the dance, this is insensitive to the purpose of affinity groups. Beyond that insensitivity, however, this word good pushes the piece from a neutral article to something more opinionated.
Celeste Thomas, director of multicultural student services and sponsor of both LSA and BSA, clarifies that the sole focus of affinity groups at a predominantly white institution is “to provide a place for persons from those affinity groups to have community together and not feel like they have to explain everything that they do to the dominant culture.” Thomas points out that events open to the general public by affinity groups were never made to conform to the dominant culture, but rather were open to share culture as a learning experience.
Yajaira Acuapa and Victor Acosta, Co-Presidents of LSA, shared their sentiments regarding the information published. “I really don’t appreciate how a non-color person has a statement where he judged [our] food, and the music taste,” said Acuapa.
“This comment was made during Hispanic Heritage Month, when we were just wrapping up,” Acosta said. Acosta shared that the DJ and the catering were local businesses run by people of Latin heritage in Harrisonburg who chose to share their culture with the campus. “We’re here to celebrate our culture. Here at EMU, something that we thrive on is togetherness, and it felt like that was being limited with that statement.”
Acuapa and Acosta went on to express their disappointment in the fact that there was no request for comment from either affinity group. Similarly, BSA’s Co-President, Rin Akinotcho, shared a similar grievance with the article
Akinotocho wrote in an email regarding the article, saying that “it is not only inaccurate, but has opinions and commentary that don’t reflect the whole of either organization.”
I tend to agree. A portion of the problem is the music comment because it shifts this article to an opinion piece, but a larger problem is the lack of balance. This upset equilibrium will skew a reader’s perception. This piece only including first-year and sophomore students is a minor problem that could be shifted easily by asking upperclassmen for comment. My qualm is the fact that the author attended and engaged in the event and never asked any of the creators for comment.
It is my opinion that this article was written improperly, and that it should have had at least two members of BSA or LSA commenting on the event, so that members of the community could also get the perspective of the organizers. Journalism does include freedom of speech to a degree, but there are expectations and rules around fairness that must be observed. If a reporter cannot write a culturally competent piece of writing, I think that they should take more time to study journalism.
Editorial Response: We acknowledge that the article in question was upsetting to LSA and BSA. We regret not adequately training our writers better on how to cover cultural events on campus. We have taken measures to prepare our staff members to be more culturally sensitive through orientation trainings, and providing educational resources. We are committed to reporting with journalistic integrity and cultural sensitivity while maintaining our values as an independent student-run newspaper.