by James A. Bacon
I increased my respect for Cedric Wins. In his personal Facebook page, the Virginia Military Institute Superintendent congratulated Lt. James Mansfield (class of ’22) and Cadet Russell Crouch (class of ’24), co-editors of The Cadet student newspaper last year, for winning the Virginia Press Association’s Journalist Service and Integrity Award.
That couldn’t have been easy. The student journalists had been critical of the Wins administration’s implementation of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and its approach to student mental health. But Wins proved he is capable of setting aside any personal pique he might have and applaud the cadets for their significant accomplishment.
Wrote Wins: “The Virginia Military Institute lauds these cadets’ commitment to the free exercise of expression and looks forward to working with those cadets who follow in their footsteps.”
Yes, this the same student newspaper that The Washington Post slammed with allegations of plagiarism and conflict of interest — perhaps the first time in history that a newspaper of such global stature stooped to undermining a prestigious award for a student newspaper of a small college. The Post’s vindictive criticisms — I use the word “vindictive” because The Cadet articles contested a racial-oppression narrative peddled by the Post for two years — successfully triggered a VPA investigation into the allegations. The findings of that investigation, however, found that the contest rules provided no mechanism for reversing the award.
Wins looks like a bigger man, and The Washington Post looks petty and mean- spirited.
Here’s an idea: The Cadet should undertake an investigation into awards granted Washington Post reporter Ian Shapira. According to his WaPo biography, Shapira’s chronicling of “systemic racism, sexism, sexual assault and waterboarding at the Virginia Military Institute,” won him a George Polk award, the Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize for Distinguished Education Reporting, and the Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award from Columbia University for reporting on racial or religious hatred, intolerance or discrimination.
The Post’s coverage of VMI set new standards for tendentious, one-sided reporting. Perhaps the VMI student journalists could see if they could get Shapira’s awards revoked!
