We have all heard the phrase “pick your battles” hundreds of times. It is one of those cliches that we eventually learn to tune out.

Last semester, however, I learned what it really feels like to pick a battle.

Let’s recap. I publicly resigned from my position as a resident assistant and dealt with the consequences of that decision while finding new housing. I took the reins of this organization and dealt with the ups and downs of leading a few dozen staff members.

The most headache-inducing battle by far was the political coverage and eventual endorsement of Kamala Harris that graced the front page of The Slate’s Oct. 22 edition.

The Slate has published political endorsements in the past, but in this climate, we were very aware that it would ruffle feathers. As a quasi-professional organization, we did our homework on the legal backing behind this decision. And as journalism students, we are well-educated about our First Amendment rights. In short, the legality of publishing an endorsement is well-founded.

However, our Student Government Association and university fiscal office, known as SUSSI, seem far less educated about the First Amendment and its protections. 

Two days after Election Day, we were notified that our endorsement violated the standing rules of SGA’s Budget and Finance Committee due to a ban on student activity fees, from which we are funded, being used toward political content. 

As noted, we had done our homework and expected this, and we quickly con-tacted the Student Press Law Center, which confirmed our endorsement as per-fectly legal. In fact, a ban on political endorsements using student fees has been litigated in the past, and the students won.

We went back and forth with SGA for weeks and did not get a finalized response until Dec. 27, more than two months after the endorsement was published. SGA made the correct decision to overrule their initial ruling and pay for that edition with funds from our operating budget; however, they threatened to cut our budget if we violate rules in the future.

In every piece of communication shared with us by both SGA and SUSSI, the words First Amendment did not appear once, which is the core of why this decision should never have been made. Your Budget and Finance Committee bylaws and standing rules are well and good, but when competing with the First Amendment, you will lose every time.

SGA may claim that The Slate is not an independent student-run paper, but that is incorrect. The Slate has and will never censor or limit its content based on fears of retribution from SGA, SUSSI or any other branch of this university.

Journalism has been under attack for years — centuries, really — and the industry is not going to become any less threatened under a president who has called for news programs and networks to be taken off the air.

Journalists do not control the news. We, The Slate’s journalists included, are a voice for our community and report on the good, the bad and the ugly.

Politicians do not control the news, no matter how much you may want it to go away.

SGA included.

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