Editor:

How disheartening it was, as a retired newspaper reporter and former journalism lecturer myself at Chico State University, to read Marcy Burstiner's Sept. 29 column, "Warning: This Column Contains Objectionable Material," advocating "warning people about content and trying to present content that people are emotionally capable of consuming." And this from a journalism department chair!

That goes against everything that a free press, not to mention academic freedom, represents in a democracy.

Whenever a student picks up a newspaper, or turns on the TV, she may not feel comfortable that the weather forecast predicts rain, or that the sports roundup reports the Jacks lost, or with practically anything Donald Trump says.

But into each life some rain will fall; your team won't win every game; and not every politician is Bernie Sanders. Shielding young people (small children, maybe, but not college-age students) from unwelcome facts or disagreeable opinions will not protect them. But it will certainly leave them unprepared for life.

James Haynes, Blue Lake