The Ventura Community College District, at the recommendation of Ventura College acting president Michael Gregory and Oxnard College president Dr. Lydia Lidesma-Reese, recently cut two journalism programs supposedly due to budget issues.

?One of those was the Ventura College VC Press, one of the oldest continually published student newspapers in the state.

“Cutbacks are a way of life, but when a 75-year-old newspaper suddenly disappears, we take notice,” says Joe Wirt, of California News Publishers Association.

One question comes to mind.? Was the elimination of these programs an act of budget control or an act of censorship? Yet another way to silence free speech.

What happened in Ventura County is a cancer that can and will spread throughout the state and nation.

Not unlike chemotherapy, we the people need to band together to eliminate this menace.

Write your congressman, governor or picket in front of the White House, whatever it takes to let the powers that be know that freedom of speech is one they cannot take away.

Using the budget crunch as an easy way to silence the outspoken is ridiculous.? For if you are truly outspoken, you will be heard. From the Internet, street corners, public restrooms, wherever, you will be heard as long as you stay true to yourself and your beliefs.

The closure of journalism programs throughout the state and even the country cannot be taken lightly.?

It may seem rash to think that what happens in one school district will spread nationwide.? However, if you think that such a thing cannot reach you and that your freedom will not be taken away from you, then you are mistaken.

No longer feeling safe, perhaps it is time to hurry up and get this out before it’s cut off mid-sente…