This week, as we followed the Rotunda‘s admirable coverage of the First Avenue murders, we noticed a curious amount of responses to Rebekah Tucker’s opinion piece regarding Longwood’s funding.  

Remember how she used her first piece to complain that no one was utilizing the website’s commenting system for thoughtful responses?  This time there were lots of thoughtful responses.

There was criticism for her grammar, spelling, fact-checking, snarkiness, even for her assumption that the ghost of Dr. Jarman would disapprove of renovation.  

And it was not just students.  A poster named “Ramesh Rao” even chimed in:

“It is snarky in tone, uninformed, and takes pot shots at people in a manner that is ‘cringe-worthy’. Let not the excuse — ‘We are students, we work very hard on the newspaper, sometimes we say things we should not’ — be offered here. Reporting and commenting is a serious business, and one should take them seriously.”  

Rao would know about this, as he was once the faculty advisor for the Rotunda, and has contributed to the Richmond Times-Dispatch op-ed page.  Still, we were surprised he chose to leave a comment visible to everyone, instead of sending an email to Tucker or to the current faculty advisor.  Actually, we weren’t surprised at all. 

The responses continued.  A poster named “john graham” made the case that, tone and mechanical errors aside, Tucker’s piece had a real point to make.  We agreed with Graham — so did a few others on the comment board.

Today, in addition to Rebekah Tucker’s mea culpa, there is a Letter to the Editor from none other than T. Jordan Miles III ©, who took time from his busy schedule — which includes blogging for the Real Life Longwood — to express righteous outrage and come to the defense of The Great Dismal Swamp of Longwood.  

That’s certainly not necessary; we all know The Great Dismal Swamp can more than defend itself.  

As for Tucker’s apology, it was mature and timely, reflecting both the Rotunda‘s growing pains and good intentions.