And guess what, ladies? Sexual abuse is all your fault, as usual.

The Daily Princetonian, Princeton’s student newspaper, ran an op-ed penned by an incredibly naive freshman yesterday that asserts that female rape victims are just plain askin’ for it. Writer Neagu uses the example of a rape case initiated by one of her friends to illustrate her point that if rape victims were more responsible, then they’d be less rape-able. Neagu must have a heart of steel, because she completely tosses her friend under the bus, claiming she “knew what would happen if she started drinking.” (Yes, because obviously every time I start drinking I am aware that it will inevitably lead to unwanted sexual intercourse.) Imagine the reaction of Neagu’s friend– not only does someone she trusted enough to reveal details of the situation think that the whole scandal was her fault, but Neagu declares so publicly, riding the crest of her friend’s painful experience to a conclusion that is uninformed, hurtful and–dare I say it–completely wrong.

But sexist op-eds are written all the time for student publications, which brings us to a broader point: do student press organizations have a responsibility to table student-submitted pieces that are wildly offensive, or should they function as a platform for all student voices, no matter how… ridiculous?

By now you’ve gathered that I completely disagree with Neagu’s piece, but I’m actually going to argue something (kind of) in support of her now: I think that The Daily Princetonian, whose motives may have been less than pure (using a freshman as link-bate is clever but cruel), may have done the right thing in publishing this piece, even though it’s a bunch of garbage. If student presses are genuinely meant to function as the mouthpiece for students on campus, then running this op-ed was a service. Some of those students may be less informed than others, but that doesn’t make their viewpoints less valuable. The problem, however, becomes where you draw the line. If there are racist students on campus who want to pen offensive op-eds, does The Daily Princetonian have a responsibility to run them? What topics are simply too taboo to broach via an op-ed? I’m unsure what my opinion is on these questions, but I know that I personally would feel uncomfortable running an op-ed on NYU Local that could be taken as racist, sexist, etc.

I e-mailed Jack Ackerman, the editor-in-chief of The Daily Princetonian, to see if he could comment on why the paper decided to run a piece that was so obviously offensive. He has yet to respond.

(Image via) (H/t Ivygate)