The presidential election of 2016 is unlike any other in American history and it now brings The Suffolk Journal staff to endorse a candidate for only its fourth time in the 80 years of the publication’s existence.
Since the university’s founding in 1906, the students, faculty and staff have questioned authority and set its own standards of governance. When Gleason Archer started a Law School in his living room, he stood as the original rule breaker when he accepted not just the then “appropriate” white, rich, protestant male into his school, but welcomed blacks, asians, and non-protestants. During his first year, he had five of his students pass the Bar exam.
Former Secretary of State and democratic nominee Hillary R. Clinton has talked constantly on how America must “celebrate its diversity” for women and minorities.
Businessman and republican nominee Donald J. Trump calls minorities “rapists” and encourages his supporters to object the very democracy that the country was founded on with the ideology that “all men were created equal.”
During a 2016 count, 23 percent of Suffolk University’s students were coming to Boston from 108 different countries across the globe and 27 percent of domestic students are of color. 54 percent of the total population of students are women. Suffolk embraces its diversity.
Trump would rather “build a wall” than accept any cultures into the country, including the international students that Suffolk welcomes. Clinton said she will work toward a full and equal citizenship.
In 1936, the Suffolk Law School celebrated its 30th year and introduced the community of night students to The Suffolk Journal. The staff, throughout its 80 years of producing a paper- has printed either monthly, weekly or even stopped altogether to send their staff to work toward the war effort in the 1940s.
Clinton has respected the freedom of the press while Trump has claimed that the media is out to rig the election when they report the facts.
Clinton has promised to not only keep the country safe and maintain a strong and equipped military, but she has also said supporting military veterans and their families– much like the 122 Yellow Ribbon G.I. recipients at Suffolk in 2016.
Trump disrespects Prisoners of War and said that they don’t have his respect because they are “not heroes when they’re captured.”
During the 1960s, Suffolk had a number of protests that had rallied on the Boston Common, Temple Street and surrounding locations. Because of these protests, pop-up publications were produced, such as a newspaper that represented Suffolk’s Black Panthers. In December of 2014, Suffolk students marched in the Black Lives Matter protest that started on Boston Common and pounded through the city streets for hours into the night.
Clinton knows that America’s long struggle with race is far from finished and she is ready to fight for all citizens. Trump asks the black community “what do you have to lose?”
In 1968, The Journal hired its first woman Editor-in-Chief. In the 1960s, a woman stood and turned her back to her own graduation at Suffolk in order to protest for her right to her own health.
Clinton has worked countlessly on women and family issues to fight for equal pay, women’s right to make her own decisions in her health and LGBT rights and equality.
Trump has offended, sexualized, assaulted and disrespected women. Between his offenses toward his own daughter and his female co-workers, Trump does not understand the true meaning of respect and equality toward women- the majority of Suffolk’s student makeup.
Suffolk adjunct professors throughout the years have fought for higher wages and benefits as well as the respect of the university.
Clinton works to raise these wages. Trump looks to help the top one percent.
In a staff editorial in 2001, The Journal critiqued George W. Bush for when he said that atheists should not be considered American citizens. The Journal said that the nation should coexist like Suffolk has.
In the spring semester of 2016, a debacle between the Board of Trustees and former president Margaret McKenna had cast a spotlight on student activists that fought for transparency and updated bylaws. In October of 2016, the staff union “Our Suffolk” sent a letter to the editor that was published in The Journal that had demanded workforce stability. Suffolk exceeds by playing not by the rules but by questioning authority and demanding change. This election, we, The Suffolk Journal staff, looks to the future U.S. president for change.
In fall of 2014, Martha Coakley sent a letter to Suffolk students that would be published in The Journal. The Editor’s note that went alongside the letter read that The Journal does not participant in any type of endorsements. However, with the election of 2016, we cannot have this mentality. We must stand by the candidate that represents Suffolk and its students.
We, The Suffolk Journal staff endorse Hillary Rodham Clinton for president of the United States. We as a staff spent hours in the Moakley Archives to relive the history of both Suffolk University and The Suffolk Journal. In September of 1960, The Journal published a staff editorial and stated “The Journal must always be Suffolk.” Clinton is The Journal and The Journal is still Suffolk. Clinton chooses diversity, women, equality, and service and has a plan- much like the institution that we belong to.
