Months after the approval of the unaltered text of the musical Ragtime for production at Cherry Hill East, the Board of Education has felt the need to censor the show's use of the "N-word", as well as other racial slurs meant to convey the atrocities of the time. For several reasons, including a potential loss in sympathy for the show's oppressed characters, the robbing of integrity and artistic license for those involved in performing the show, and the possible setting of a precedent that would allow other important artistic works in East's curriculum to be censored, the general student body involved in the production of Ragtime is highly displeased with this decision, and requests that it be overturned. Although we somewhat understand the reasoning behind this decision (and also understand that the Board wouldn't have made it without the added pressure of several notable Civic Associations including the NAACP), we nonetheless ask that it be revoked, for the sake of Cherry Hill High School East's continued artistic freedom and ability to present history as it happened rather than how we'd prefer to remember it.