Letter to the Editor

To the Editor of the Free Press:

The recent publishing of the article, “What Lang Looks Like from the Outside: An Exchange Student’s Story” in the sixth issue of the New School Free Press has left me speechless and frustrated. The “story” is far beyond my perception of The New School and seemed to be written and edited by a reporter who thought they understood what I had to say about my experience as a domestic exchange student. The article holds an abundance of false facts and exempts everything intellectually and socially substantial that I talked about during my interview. The article highlights mostly jokes that I made about New York City and excludes my true perspective of The New School. I am not quite sure of the purpose of the article and what meaning it will have in the student community.

It is clear that the article was written with little care. As soon as I read the headline, I knew the article would be a misrepresentation of everything that I stand for. I am not a student at Lang, so how could I begin to express my feelings about it? However, the domestic exchange program is in partnership with Lang, but all of my classes except for one are at The New School for Jazz.

I find it interesting that the only facts that made it in the article were that I am an African-American and Christian who attends Spelman College, a historically black college and university. The article even states that I am a sophomore at Spelman College, but I am a junior. If I can’t trust that simple facts such as my student classification will be expressed correctly, then I most definitely cannot expect for the article to obtain or display social integrity. These two facts shaped this idea that my “all-black” and “Christian” background is the foundation for why I perceive The New School the way that I do. The article was overall offensive and purposeless. Next time, the Free Press should host a panel discussion that allows the truth to be spoken without the risky limitations of ”word count” restrictions that may end up leaving the interviewee sounding shallow and bitter.

Sincerely,
Quinyae Sturdivant