Concerning Duke University syllabus attempted to ice out student journalists

UPDATED: Nov. 9, 2017 at 5:15 p.m.

The misconception that journalists are untrustworthy has seeped into national rhetoric in the “fake news” era. And now, the sentiment has made its way into higher education and manifested at Duke University.

The spring 2017 syllabus for the “Inside Hedge Funds” economics class stated that staff members at The Duke Chronicle — the university’s independent student news organization — were not permitted to take the course.

The syllabus came to the attention of Chronicle staffers last week. A chair of the university’s economics department clarified this wasn’t an explicit ban on Chronicle members, but rather “a poorly worded attempt to remind students that the comments of guest speakers should be considered ‘off the record’ and not reported in the media or on social media.”

Still, the idea that students need to be warned to not report private information, to the point when they’re told to not enroll in a class, is problematic. Student journalists are students first, just as journalists are people first. So there’s no reason — or right — to want them barred from opportunities afforded to other students.

College courses are generally accepted with a level of confidentiality. Professors and fellow students aren’t being interviewed, and what’s discussed in class shouldn’t directly make its way to social media or a print publication. It’s naive and close-minded to think journalists endanger this academic atmosphere.

Overall, the idea that classroom discussions are so private that they can’t be exposed to a member of the media is unrealistic. Any student can tweet a secret divulged by a hedge fund manager. And if something is so confidential that it can’t be taken out of the classroom, it may be best to not discuss it in class at all.

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