The Berkeley Beacon student newspaper has apologized for a recent editorial that compared a proposal by Boston City Council President Michael Ross to Nazi-style policies. Aside from acknowledging that its editorial was “hyperbolic and flippant,”the paper admitted that it didn’t not know that Ross is the son of a Holocaust survivor.
In last week’s editorial, The Beacon’s editorial board criticized Boston City Council President Michael Ross’ plan to require colleges to report student addresses to city officials. This measure would help enforce a City of Boston ordinance barring more than four college students from living together.
Since then, Ross, a few local blogs and The Weekly Dig have heavily criticized The Beacon.
In the editorial, we skewered Ross’ intentions to request student housing information from colleges, sarcastically suggesting he adopt the tactics of Adolf Hitler by keeping tabs on college students with arm bands and tattoos, without acknowledging Ross’ father’s history with the Holocaust. Stephan Ross survived 10 concentration camps before being rescued by American troops at Dachau, a fact we did not know until Ross sent us a letter expressing his concern and disappointment with the editorial.
The suffering of Ross’ father is well-known in the Boston community. We should have done our research, but we did not.
Similarly, our tone and language in the editorial were hyperbolic and flippant. Ross does not plan to round up Boston’s college students and put them in concentration camps, nor does he plan on tattooing us for identification by “Gestapo-like” guards. That was sarcasm and exaggeration that, in the fervor of argument, went too far.
While we still strongly disagree with the councilor’s plans, our failure to acknowledge-or Google or research on his Web site-his family history with the Holocaust caused some rightful outrage towards The Beacon and, in that editorial, undermined our argument against the ordinance…
But all else aside, we deeply apologize to Councilor Michael Ross, Stephan Ross and to everyone offended by the editorial for invoking a painful past in our rhetoric. It lacked perspective, as Boston Magazine’s Boston Daily blog rightfully pointed out, and was a stupid move, as written in The Dig.
We regret especially that our mistake obscured honest and open debate of an important issue to college students in the Emerson and Boston communities.
Thanks, Andrew!
