By Foster Nicholas | Editor-in-Chief
I believe transparency is vital to any news outlet, and I would like to address the response to The Lariat’s poll on Dave Aranda. Additionally, I’d like to explain the posting of our social media community guidelines following the response to a separate story. I stand behind and support all the decisions my staff has made over the past few weeks and want to relay that to our audience clearly.
On Oct. 30, The Lariat polled students on Fountain Mall for their opinion on Baylor football with a poster board reading, “Should Dave Aranda be fired?” The following day, our social media team posted the results of the poll with a time-lapse. The beginning of the video and digital story as well as the description on the social media post read:
“Dave Aranda’s Baylor Bears have a conference record of 2-3. After back to back losses, both local and national news outlets have suggested that Baylor seek a new hire after the season. The Lariat asked students the question: Should Dave Aranda be fired?”
First, The Lariat did not call for Aranda’s job; it conducted a man-on-the-street style interview to poll the student body and gauge their opinions. There was no malice, just student journalists asking their primary audience — the students of the university — about the football team’s head coach after other publications, including The Waco Trib, CBS Sports, Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, Sports Illustrated and SicEm365 published columns stating it was time to move on.
Additionally, our sports reporters and I, as a former sports editor, recognized that the fan base was disgruntled, with a majority of Baylor fans facilitating their own conversations on social media. As Baylor fans and national outlets discussed the topic extensively, we felt it was our turn to open the conversation to students.
While the timing of homecoming week was widely debated, my staff and other columnists were aware that a home loss could prompt a head coaching change. To anticipate this potential change, we acted to stay ahead of the news.
Our publication intentionally did not take a stance on whether the school should move on from Aranda. The decision to conduct the man-on-the-street interviews was run past myself and advisers days prior and approved. We agreed that to avoid bias in our reporting as a student-run publication, polling the student body was a better alternative to writing a column. Students were eager to share their views, both for ‘yes’ and ‘no,’ as seen in Lariat TV News’ story.
Following the feedback on our social media platforms, The Lariat team held discussions on the execution of this project. With the advice and support of my advisers and experienced professionals, along with the actions of our neighboring outlets, we handed the mic to the students, and I stand by that decision.
Students were genuinely excited to share their thoughts with my reporters, and we plan to continue polling students about both serious and lighthearted topics in the future.
However, I recognize that a portion of our audience was unhappy and disagreed with the execution of our social media post. I have spoken with our staff, and we will work to provide more context on social media posts when they could potentially be misinterpreted.
Second, The Lariat’s social media team appropriately chose to make a community guidelines post following explicit religious hate speech directed at a news story about halal chicken being added to East Village Dining Commons, which was discussed in a Thursday editorial.
While The Lariat strives to foster discussion and conversation on current topics, these do not extend to hate speech or harassment. Many of the comments on this post speculated that it was related to the mix of pushback and support for our student poll on Fountain Mall, which is simply untrue.
Our guidelines are meant to create a safe space for our audience, not to purify our image or censor criticism. Again, we welcome honest feedback or criticism from our audience; however, this does not extend to hate speech or harassment on any of our platforms.
The Lariat will always be “news for the students by the students,” and I understand that will not always be news our audience agrees with. It is a priority to ensure the students’ voices are being heard and news is shared without interference. I have 100% trust in my staff to report on news ethically and responsibly. Thank you for your continued support and engagement.
