This week, our lead story focuses on a student who posted a photo on Facebook, and was subsequently asked by the university to remove it.

The photo displayed a bug in the Miller Residence Hall’s dining area.

Posting a photo to Facebook falls under a citizen’s first amendment rights. The country’s founding fathers worked hard to ensure Americans would forever be able to express themselves freely and independently.

While the university does not want photos of a bug near food surfacing on the web, trying to hide the situation by asking a student to remove the photo is wrong.

A more appropriate response would have been to release a comment on the photo to the residence hall occupants, and maybe to the entire university. When our reporter asked a university spokesman to comment on the issue, he explained that the university checks dining halls each week for pests, and that all Sodexo managers are certified in keeping food serving areas cleaned and maintained.

Supplying students with that information would have been beneficial. Instead, a student’s rights were compromised.

Addressing the issue would have provided students more trust in the university. By asking the student to remove the photo, the only thing Suffolk has ensured is that they will not address issues at the university in an upfront and public manner, and that they do not value the first amendment rights of students.