Student Life Archives (2001-2008)

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor:

I join the Student Life in wishing that the administration would be more forthcoming with information about its decisions (“University silence unacceptable,” Feb. 12, 2006) – particularly when defending itself, as considering “staying silent” to be the best form of damage control is not only unproductive but hurts them as much as it hurts us; but I must note that it has not been my experience that Student Life has always printed or even been aware of all publicly available information. For instance, in the current case of the Performing Arts Department, Student Life has failed to mention that Henry Schvey’s replacement, Robert Henke, is an Associate Professor in the PAD (his home department) or that he has previously served as that department’s Director of Graduate Studies.

It seems to me that if the University conducted a review of the department and subsequently suspended the M.A. program and brought in a former Director of Graduate Studies as the new Chair, their purpose is clear.

However, in the Student Life article, two of these facts are buried on page five, one of them given less than a sentence, and the third isn’t mentioned at all. Far more space is given to wild rumors and speculation, both before and after the hard facts are mentioned. This does not strike me as responsible reporting so much as rumor mongering.

Perhaps the University would be more forthcoming with official explanations for their actions if they thought that students would believe them.

- M. Alan Thomas II
Class of 2004

Popularity: 1% [?]

Print This Post Print This Post

No Comments Yet

You can be the first to comment!

Student Life is the independent student newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis. Keep in touch with Washington University by subscribing to an RSS feed of our stories or an RSS feed of our comments. Privacy Policy | Comments Policy | Web Policy