Letter to the Editor
Campus Times
February 27, 1998
Dear Editor,
As an occasional contributor to Prism, I was pleased to see the
20th anniversary edition of the magazine. Prism has certainly "grown
in size (both page size and number of pages), has become colorful and has
encompassed the talents of students all across the campus," as its
co-editors very well state in their opening letter to the readers.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that selected works from contributors
from past years were included, and that one of my poems, submitted in 1995,
was reprinted.
But my surprise turned to disappointment when I realized that in the
process of reproducing this poem, 11 mistakes had been made. In the careless
process, words were changed, lines were omitted and prepositions were changed
or added. My poem had lost its soul! I felt disappointment because the standards
of quality and accuracy in proofreading maintained by campus publications
in the days I was a communications and journalism student had dropped to
a dangerous level. Disappointment because errors like these can really undermine
the very existence of the publication.
True, there are now more "layers" of people and operators
of modern equipment involved in the production of any magazine and the probability
of committing compounded errors multiplies. True, any on-campus publication
is understaffed -- but 11 mistakes are too many. Also, am I to believe that
most of the mistakes made in this issue were concentrated in my poem?
There is a lesson to be learned. I hope it's a good, positive one; for
the students working on all publications on campus, for the faculty members
who advise them, for the people who find a place to publish their creations
and for the people who read them. I have learned mine; I leave it up to
you to figure out yours!
Zoila A. Garcia
Administrative Secretary, History/Political Science Department
