On Monday, 2/9, the University of Houston’s campus newspaper, The Daily Cougar, ran a front page story detailing the slaying of a man at a bus stop outside of Hofheinz Pavilion. The man was homeless and reported to be in his 40s or 50s with “unkempt hair and a weathered look”. According to police, the man was “sleeping on the bus stop bench before being shot once in the head.”
The University was quick to respond,
“With more than 60,000 individuals on our campus at any given time, and an area that encompasses nearly 600 acres, UH is the size of a small city. As such, we’re subject to the same amount of crime and violence any community faces,” [UH System vice President and vice Chancellor for Administration & Finance Carl] Carlucci said in his statement.
and
“Statistically speaking, the university remains as safe and secure as most areas of Houston and safer than many.”
This is all good and well. The story is gruesome, but this is what newspaper’s were created for. Some stories need to be told, deserve to see the light of day, no matter how mature the content. Some stories need to be shouted and sometimes words need to bite. Sometimes there are things better left unsaid. Either way, good or bad, someone needs to be there, willing to transcribe everything. Even when that everything is less than pretty, less than comprehensible.
I get that and I agree with that.
What I can not agree with, however, is the picture that the Cougar editors decided to include with the story.
