University of Texas at Dallas’ student newspaper is leading a small but mighty revolution against its school after repeated mistreatment.
For context, tensions fully began to rise last year, at the beginning of the fall semester. After the original advisor, Jonathan Stewart, was quickly demoted in May 2024 for supporting the student’s journalism, Lydia Lum, the current advisor of The Mercury, was appointed in the role in July 2024. In September, she then voted to fire editor in chief Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez after she claimed that he had violated multiple bylaws of the program.
The Mercury didn’t agree. After the paper had published multiple pieces criticizing UTD’s responses to pro-Palestine protests on the campus, the staff saw Gutierrez’s firing as a stab in the back of editorial journalism.
This led the staff to strike, and stop all production of media. Quickly the staff pulled together The Mercury: Special Edition and published it, stating the terms of their strike and the circumstances of Guiterrez’s swift firing.
This blatant attempt to silence student journalism quickly got out though. On The Mercury’s website, over a thousand students and community members have signed in support of the paper and its staffers, and in support of their terms of reinstatement.
Most recently though, previous members of The Mercury have created a new independent student newspaper, called The Retrograde. The university itself cannot dictate or influence the journalists or their stories, and they were recently able to publish their first physical edition.
This whole situation has really highlighted the university’s issues on a much larger scale. UTD has already attempted to minimize The Retrograde in multiple ways, including removing newspaper stands on campus immediately after the paper announced they would be using the stands to distribute their physical edition.
If a huge institution like UTD trembles in its boots at the thought of student journalism that refutes its predatory tactics, then it’s evident that there’s deeper issues underlying that need to be addressed and fought over. It’s a pathetic display from a university that claims to “educate innovatively.”
Kudos to the student journalists that didn’t take the easy route, or back away when faced with injustice and controversy. Investigative and opinionated journalism is inherently uncomfortable and tricky, and good journalists won’t just stop when the topic gets dicey–regardless of what authority believes.
Currently the situation seems to have mostly calmed down. The university has still refused to meet the journalists’ demands, meaning that The Mercury will probably not be back up and running anytime soon. But the newest version, The Retrograde, seems to be having plenty of success and is exceedingly prolific already. Go and support them on their site if you’re interested in updates.
Overall, I think that UTD’s response to all of this has showcased some of the institution’s immaturity and inability to compromise. It’s disappointing to see this behaviour from such an honored university, especially considering it’s one that so many students in our area hope to enroll at. So, do better UTD, and best of luck to The Retrograde.