It appears there is some concern that Matt Hittle is a columnist and blogger for The Volante, while at the same time he is the president of College Republicans.

The Volante’s policy is not to restrict any student from writing columns at The Volante. The obvious and only conflict in this respect is the prohibition of “reporters” engaging in opinion. Our “reporters” or “news editors” are not involved in the opinion/editorial process; hence, keeping a separation between opinion and news.

Matt Hittle is not a reporter. Certainly though, all opinion columnists have a journalistic responsibility in terms of what they opine on, but mostly they are relying on personal opinion of a particular issue. It is this sometimes gray area which ruffles many feathers. However, Matt is a student just like anyone else and began writing as a columnist for The Volante one year ago. Since then he has actively participated in other student organizations, namely, College Republicans, where he is now their president.

Simply because he is the president of another student organization, in this case a political organization, he should not be barred from publishing as a columnist with The Volante. This same ability would be extended equally to the president of the College Democrats as well, or any other student organization, political or otherwise.

What The Volante failed to do was provide a disclaimer stating that Matt is both a columnist for The Volante AND president of College Republicans. You will notice on all of his blog posts and comments (and future print columns) there is this disclaimer.

If you are interesting in becoming a “regular” columnist for The Volante, contact our editor, Lauren Hollister at Lauren.Hollister@usd.edu. With our expansion online, if you would like to write as a columnist for The Volante, we have plenty of space on the Internet. Again, talk to Lauren if you are interested in becoming a regular Online Opinion writer. Also, guest columns are accepted from time to time.

David Whitesock
Online Director
The Volante