Abusive and threatening comments cannot be tolerated

Over the winter break, the Laurier community learned through various media outlets, including The Cord, that the Graduate Students’ Association had terminated their contract with the operator of Veritas Café, Sandor Dosman.

The contract was terminated, according to Dosman, due to an ad he posted online looking for new employees, saying he was searching for a “new slave (full-time staff member).”

After this story broke, several people in Kitchener-Waterloo and the Laurier community took to social media to express their anger surrounding the situation.

Many people started to blame Samantha Deeming, president and CEO of the GSA for the decision to terminate the contract and accused the GSA of being hyper-sensitive.

The Cord’s website and Facebook page blew up with comments, some of which were aggressive and accusatory.

During times like these, we encourage the public and our readers to be critical and well informed about situations before posting comments. While the university and the GSA were releasing very vague statements, it must be understood that there are legal parameters in which they can release information.

A story such as this has several layers and, regardless of how much the community can disagree with a decision, abusive or threatening emails are never acceptable. No single person made this decision.

While Deeming may be the figurehead of the GSA, there are policies in place that make an action, such as terminating a contract, a decision that must be made by the group.

The Cord places emphasis on reporting news stories in an unbiased nature. We do not agree nor disagree with the GSA’s decision. It is not our job to tell you what to think; it is our job to tell you the story.

Varying opinions make for interesting dialogues. We enjoy when our readers engage with each other via comments sections. We encourage healthy debate.

What we do not condone is the abusive and threatening language from behind a computer screen. If you’re going to disagree, disagree in a way that it still respectful, critical and well-informed.