The Columbia Chronicle Online 3/29: Free Movies!

Editorial

Free Movies!
The moral of today’s story? If you want something nice, say the magic word.

As journalists (and college journalists at that), the last thing we should ever be doing is complaining about anything. Unfortunately, we have a bone to pick.

As many of you in Columbialand know, the Chronicle has been giving away boatloads of free movie tickets, a everything from small flicks (“The Inheritors”) to big glossy bonanzas (“Matrix”). These free shows were good for us all; we got to know a lot of readers from around the school, and you folks had the chance to see some cool and not-so-cool (think “Ringmaster”) films for zip.

Unfortunately, the honeymoon ended before we knew it; nowadays, people just expect it to happen. If we run out of passes by Wednesday, or if the they haven’t arrived by Monday morning, we get hell, as if it was our doing. Instead of reading the paper (if, for no other reason, to find out what we’re giving away), a lot of people just come in and ask us to toss their way whatever passes we have.

But hey! What right do we have to be disappointed, if you’re taking what we’re giving away? Doesn’t every school do this? Actually, no. The fact is, the Chronicle is one of the only schools around that gives these passes away. DePaul doesn’t do it, Loyola doesn’t do it, UIC doesn’t do it and you can bet your life it doesn’t happen at Northwestern or the University of Chicago either. Each of these papers has a larger budget and staff than do we, and the opportunity is there. They simply choose not to take a part.

We here at the Chronicle, however, do. What’s more, we’re happy to do it, because we enjoy giving these passes away as much as you enjoy seeing the movies. All we ask in return is a little courtesy. When you come in, take the time to know in advance what move you wish to see. We know that like any student at Columbia, you’re pretty busy and you don’t always have time to leaf through the paper. But we go to classes and have jobs and activities just like you, and we’re busy too, so respect that. While we fetch your pass, take the time to tell us what you like and don’t like about the paper, and ask any questions that you might have. And if nothing else, toss us a little “thank you” on the way out.

We really enjoy meeting our readers and hearing their opinions, and we want to make the Chronicle as much a student newspaper as we possibly can. And that, above anything else, is why we arrange these movie passes for you now and will continue to do so in the future.

To those of you who have followed our wishes without our asking, thank you. To those who have not (and we trust you know who you are), please remember that just because we give something away every week doesn’t mean we owe anybody. So make it worth our while, and we’ll be more than happy to serve your moviegoing needs for months to come (although getting tickets to “Star Wars” is your own problem).

With very few exceptions, we run out of movie passes before Wednesday. For details on the best chance to receive free tickets, see the ads inside this issue.