The Medill students who started circulating a student statement, requesting Dean Lavine address students about the quote controversy, say they have already received 200 digital signatures.
I e-mailed Emmet Sullivan, a Medill senior, about why he, Aaron Gannon, Tricia Bobeda and Margaret Matray started the petition. He emphasized that the petition is about the dean’s response, as much as the anonymous quotes themselves.
“There has been no apology and he has changed his story more than once,” Sullivan replied in an e-mail. “Was there an email that has since been deleted? Are there handwritten notes? Was it a true quote or did it just merely reflect the sentiment of what he had heard? We still have not received an adequate explanation.”
Sullivan said the group had been drafting a statement over the weekend. Since it has been released, they’ve received more than 160 signers within 12 hours, he said, and overwhelmingly positive responses.
The whole point of the petition was to engage students, he said: “We were also sick of hearing how supposedly apathetic students are on this campus. Enough are angry about this that we felt we should be heard as well.”