In both classrooms and the halls, we’ve heard a lot of students talking about whether or not senior quotes will be in the yearbook this year. To put it bluntly: No.

With most of the editors and staff on yearbook being seniors, we understand the frustration and disappointment first hand and can assure you it was not an easy decision to come to. As a publication, our first priority is to cover as much of the student body as possible and let their stories be told. While it is undeniably important to maintain and respect the First Amendment right to freedom of speech for students being represented in the book as well as the student journalists putting it together, the exception to this right is in the case of content that is obscene, libelous or slanderous, an unwarranted invasion of privacy, a violation of federal or state laws, or an incitement of crime in the school environment.

In previous years, the process of filtering through every senior quote submission has proven to be tedious and time-consuming, and countless ambiguous messages have had to be removed due to their double meaning and the possible harm they could cause to other students. We like to believe we are diligent in our work; however, we only get 46 minutes of class together a day, and if one of these quotes slips through the cracks despite our best efforts, it would very quickly become a legal issue, and the integrity of our book and publication as a whole would be called into question. Quite simply, we have reached the point where too many seniors have decided to sneak quotes into the yearbook that aren’t appropriate for printing. 

Last spring, The Chicago Tribune reported that Oak Park River Forest High School printed their book with a photo that had an ambiguous hand gesture that later came to have a derogatory and racial meaning, and the school had to pay $53,000 to reprint the yearbooks. This is what we want to avoid. More and more schools have become concerned with the liabilities of content printed in the book and believe removing senior quotes will allow the yearbook staff to focus on more quality stories. This year, Libertyville High School also announced the removal of senior quotes, as reported in The Daily Herald.

Our intention is not to censor the senior class, but to focus our energies and efforts on creating a book centered around celebrating the MV student body and our shared memories in order to put out the best product possible. This was an incredibly tough decision to make, but after seeking guidance from administration as well as our adviser, we stand behind our decision.  

However, the absence of quotes doesn’t mean the senior class will be left with nothing. In place of quotes, we’re going to be doing a Senior Poll. There will be three different questions that you can respond to and your answer will be placed underneath your mug photo in the spot that a quote would normally go. Please fill out this survey by December 13 in order to log your response.