Use of quotation marks in headline ill-informed, offensive

On July 13, The Gazette told the story of Tanager Place running a first-of-its-kind Freedom School in partnership with the Cedar Rapids Community School District. The students who attend Freedom School are referred to as scholars — much like the well-known Rhodes and Fulbright programs refer to their students as scholars as well. I sent a letter to the editor pointing out that the use of quotation marks in the headline on the word “scholars” unfortunately suggested the students aren’t really scholars.

I received a very cordial response from the editorial team explaining their choice of quotations was dictated by AP Style guidelines. If this is the case, then why weren’t quotations used on a headline lauding the Rhodes scholar Marissa Mueller in the Nov. 23, 2020 Gazette? Likewise, on Jan. 6, 2020, The Gazette ran an article with a headline explaining there were two Rhodes scholars running for the presidency as Democrats; again, quotations were not used to denote the direct quote the editorial team claimed to be using for the Freedom School scholars.

I believe quotation marks used in the Freedom School article demonstrate implicit bias held by The Gazette staff that Freedom School Scholars are not, in fact, scholars. This is not only unfortunate, but also ill-informed and offensive.

Andrea Lewerenz-Norris

Cedar Rapids