Earlier this month Wesleyan University’s student newspaper, The Argus, published an op-ed entitled “Why Black Lives Matter Isn’t What You Think.” What followed was a hailstorm of criticism and calls for the student body to boycott the 147-year-old paper.

First, it must be clarified that the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is not taking any blame away from The Argus staff. The piece that the editors-in-chief allowed to go into publication contained twisted facts, inaccurate statistics and misinformation. Combined with the sensitive topic that was being discussed, the op-ed was destined to fail. However, the ensuing backlash has this Editorial Board deeply concerned.

Currently, there is a petition with 167 signatures — representing students, staff, alumni and one community member — demanding that university funding for The Argus be cut and that copies of the paper be destroyed until The Argus staff meet a set of demands. And though some of the demands are certainly valid and merit implementation, it is wrong to threaten the life of the newspaper in order to get them passed.

Op-eds are not a reflection of the paper as a whole — they are a representation of one student’s views. The Argus should be punished for failing to get the piece up to journalistic standards, but it should not be censored for publishing opinions that may be considered unpopular.

Pipe Dream is fortunate to be a financially independent institution. It does not rely on funds from the University, and thus enjoys a great level of freedom in the content that it can publish. It is scary for us for watch a fellow student newspaper be threatened in this manner. It is scary that a student body is demanding the shuttering of the oldest twice-weekly college newspaper in the country simply because the newspaper ran an op-ed that was designed to provoke.

What these signers fail to understand is that “Why Black Lives Matter Isn’t What You Think” is representative of the student body. The op-ed — though poorly researched — was written by a student challenging discourse. Discourse is fundamentally important to the progression of new ideas; if speech remained stagnant, we would never see social or cultural change. We have Freedom of the Press for the explicit purpose of expressing our opinions openly.

Several years ago, Pipe Dream was in a similar situation after publishing a controversial op-ed. However, the students and faculty of Binghamton University never tried to take us down. Instead, they reached out to air their grievances and, as a result, helped Pipe Dream get on the path to becoming a more inclusive publication.

Wesleyan president Michael S. Roth penned a letter to The Argus, as well as to students and faculty, saying that “censorship diminishes true diversity of thinking; vigorous debate enlivens and instructs.”

We couldn’t agree more. Pipe Dream stands in solidarity with The Argus.