While it may not bother the small percentage of people that actually view the calendar, it bothers me, and nothing has been done to remedy this problem.
I’m responsible for the What’s Happening page of The Horizon. Making sure the events get listed correctly is my job.
Most of the time when I get to campus to work on my page for the next issue, all campus offices are shut down and staff members are home for the weekend.
During such times, I have to rely on event submissions e-mailed to The Horizon, the Campus Calendar and the Campus Life bulletin boards.
When the calendar is incorrect in spelling, grammar or other information for events, those mistakes reflect on the quality of my page.
I’m not saying that I’m perfect and never make mistakes, but I do my best to make sure the information I put on page 4 is correct and accurate.
That’s why we, as editors, have two or three other editors look over each page to catch our mistakes.
Trust me, they do a fantastic job of pointing out the errors in each issue.
It irritates me to no end that whomever is updating the calendar doesn’t take enough pride in their work to make accurate entries, or update them in enough time for use by any student or faculty member.
Most events that do end up on the Campus Calendar don’t always have a description or what description there is doesn’t do the event justice.
I’ve received more than one complaint about event descriptions and I’m here to say that I do my best with what I have to work with. If it isn’t to your liking, submit your own description to The Horizon.
I cannot count the number of times when I’ve sat in front of my computer screen on Friday nights pulling out my hair and groaning at the misspellings, grammatical errors and lack of information.
Quite often when I run out of any usable calendar events I try to use the fliers and posted items on the bulletin board.
I’d like to make a few requests of all campus groups about spelling and information on fliers.
Don’t focus so much on cutesy phrasing or dramatic design. Focus on content instead.
Now, I’m not against design or embellishment on a flier, but it’s the details that are important. Fliers that include times, locations, dates and the all-crucial description is what makes me absolutely thrilled on Fridays.
Even better would be submitting everything to The Horizon as well. That would take the guesswork out of trying to describe events.
Since my first column, there have been an increasing amount of errors. I’m not sure if this is done just to spite me or by accident, but it’s getting old.
We apparently all made it into college and we have a writing center to help with clarity.
There is also a spell check option on almost all computer programs to prevent these errors from happening.
The worst mistake I have found that provoked me this week was “goast.” I was curious to see if it was actually what was meant, so I Googled it.
I’m pretty sure you didn’t mean for your event to be associated with anything like a cross between a goat and a ghost or dealing with the act of necrophilia. If you did, I’m terribly sorry for my judgmental mistake.
This is just one of many errors that I find by both professional and student made fliers, poster and advertisements every week.
It’s time to step up and show pride in your work.
Double check for errors, maybe even have someone else proofread your flier or document.
Put that spell check to use and stop making simple mistakes.
I’m sorry to have to say it, but maybe it’s time this campus actually offered a course at grade-school level that would incorporate the basics of spelling, vocabulary and punctuation.
By GRACE STAMPER
Editor
gstamper@ius.edu
