Dear Editor:
I am writing to you about the opinion piece published by this paper on Thursday September 18th, 2008, entitled "Palin Wiffs on Abstinence only Education." The issue of abstinence-only education versus "comprehensive sex education" is a good policy debate, and one that we as Americans should engage in. Studies have shown that providing comprehensive sex education could reduce the instances of sexually transmitted infections, unplanned pregnancies and a number of other issues. Other studies have shown that providing comprehensive sex education results in more STIs, more unplanned pregnancies and increased sexual activity among teenagers. This is a huge debate with lots of conflicting evidence. Even if you exclude that, there is the issue "should the federal government pay for this program or should the states?" One could easily write a book or two on the topic and policy implications. With this huge hole in the debate I expected to see The Eagle address any of these issues and to perhaps chastise Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, on any of the above, like any serious journalistic enterprise. Yet, when I read it I thought that perhaps The Eagle wrote their Guy Fawkes Day issue two months early, or their April Fools' Day issue 7 months early. This Eagle laid a huge fat egg. The Eagle used as their only source of evidence her daughter's pregnancy out of wedlock. While it is a cruel irony, up there with Anita Bryant's relationship with her son, or Barty Crouch and his son, and certainly the left-wing blogosphere has exploited that and made some cruel jokes, it is not something you would expect from a serious news publication. By doing this, The Eagle has compromised basic journalistic ethics and failed to address an important policy issue. I would hope that The Eagle would avoid writing this type of journalistic excrement in the future and present opinion pieces that are grounded in policy debates and evidence. I also have to wonder if comprehensive sex education is really an issue that the student newspaper at AU needs to address. Aren't there other issues that scream out to be addressed, like the sporadic shuttle service, the high cost of parking or the lack of fair-trade food available at home basketball games? The Eagle does well when it sticks to campus issues and facts. Let's not overextend ourselves.
P.W. Brusoe Graduate student, School of Public Affairs
