Editorial: Best response to tragedy a civil one

Sometimes, a good thing surfaces from a tragedy. Sometimes, a good thing surfaces from a tragedy.

At Bridgewater State University, Destinie Mogg-Barkalow, a student journalist, was physically abused for stating her opinion in an op-ed titled, “Prop 8 generates more hate.”

Mogg-Barkalow, 20, told police she was approached in a parking lot last week by a man and woman who appeared to be the same age as she. Allegedly, they asked her if she wrote the column, and when she said yes, the woman punched her in the face, leaving a bruise.

But that’s not the story the Bridgewater State community wants us to remember. Yesterday, it displaced that unfortunate event with a rally of hundreds of students, faculty and community members on the university’s campus.

Several students said their professors canceled class for the day so that they could attend the event.

The rally featured several speakers, one of whom was Mogg-Barkalow’s father, a political science professor at the university. He thanked everyone for attending and noted that people are free to disagree with his daughter, but that she should be free to express her opinion.

We agree, and we think that expressing any opinion — even one that opposes same-sex marriage — does not take away a person’s rights. And in this case, Mogg-Barkalow should have the right to safety and not being punched in the face. Period. What she wrote for the student newspaper is almost inconsequential.

Instead of hate combating hate, however, we’ve seen a community that supports Mogg-Barkalow not just because of her position on same-sex marriage, but because she deserves the basic human right to safety.

Her assailant could have chosen instead to write a letter to the editor. At The Pitt News, we receive many letters, both of support and criticism, and we thank our readers for taking the time to write thoughtful responses. Writing a letter certainly takes a lot more calculation than punching someone in the face, but words have more persuasive power than physically antagonizing another human being ever could.

We also think Bridgewater State’s community members have the right mindset in organizing a civil response to such a negative act. It’s hard to be positive — and quite easy to get angry — in times of misfortune, but the campus has come together in a nonviolent manner and will be on its way to healing much faster than if it had resorted to violence.

We must remember that the actions and opinions of one person don’t represent the actions and opinions of an entire student body.

Look at the Penn State scandal, which caused legendary football coach Joe Paterno’s firing. About 2,000 students — about 5 percent of the student body — participated in a riot that flipped a news van and portrayed to the media a Penn State that couldn’t care less about ex-football coach Jerry Sandusky’s child-sex-abuse allegations.

Just a month later, a grassroots network of alumni and supporters had reached its goal of raising $500,000 for RAINN, the largest anti-sexual-violence organization in the country. The same Penn State that rioted also raised half a million dollars to help victims of sexual assault.

Efforts of many don’t erase the efforts of few, but in both the Bridgewater State and Penn State situations, tragedy exposed the overwhelming goodness of a community that might have otherwise gone unnoticed.

With these two examples, we see that it’s valuable to make a stand immediately after an unfortunate event on campus.

Hopefully you do, too.