As a journalism student who’s been called rude, incompetent and out-of-line, I know The Horizon is not well-liked by some people. I’ll give you a few examples.
On Wednesday, Nov. 11, Veterans Day was celebrated at IU Southeast with many activities aimed at honoring the veterans of this country. One of the events was hosted by Chancellor Sandra Patterson-Randles. It was a luncheon held in the Hoosier Room.
When Jessica Meyer, one of The Horizon’s staff writers, went to talk to her, Patterson-Randles had an interesting way to start off the interview.
“What do you want?” Patterson-Randles said.
During the course of the interview, Meyer asked if there were any other veterans events she was attending that day. In response, Patterson-Randles said she had to go to Louisville.
Thinking it involved Veterans Day, Meyer said she asked what the trip to Louisville was for.
“You don’t need to know,” Patterson-Randles said.
First of all, if Patterson-Randles didn’t want her to know anything, why did she even bring it up?
Why was her immediate reaction so secretive?
It probably isn’t anyone’s business, but she didn’t have to be rude about it to one of her own university’s students. Why not just say it was for personal reasons?
This isn’t the first time a student has been treated with disrespect, and it’s not just Patterson-Randles.
In October, when a staff reporter tried to get information on the future education building, there were some administrators who refused to talk to him about it.
The people I’m referring to didn’t just say they weren’t sure yet, they simply ignored the reporter and never got back to him.
In August, during the Week of Welcome, when free soda was offered at the Coca-Cola trailer in McCullough Plaza, one of The Horizon’s broadcast reporters tried to do a story about it.
The reporter approached Paula Sylvester, administrative secretary senior, who was one of the people passing out the free soda.
When the reporter tried to interview her, Sylvester shook her head and said “no” about half dozen times to one question.
She refused to be interviewed, which she has the right to do, but the whole story was about something as simple as passing out free soda to students. Why so serious?
The ironic part is that Sylvester is featured on one of the many posters around campus advertising the university’s Core Values.
She’s on the connectedness poster.
There’s one of the problems — connectedness.
I’m not saying anything about anyone’s work ethic or overall job performance.
I’m saying there is a big gap between the upper levels at IU Southeast and the student population.
If the students here were more than numbers, dollar signs and job security, we might be convinced the administrators care about us.
I understand some people don’t want to talk to reporters.
However, the point I want to make is the journalism students here don’t always get the chance to get a full story by talking to the people involved.
Those reporters are being denied the chance to learn.
It wouldn’t be acceptable if an art professor refused to talk about a painting if a student asked about it. Why is there a double standard for journalism students?
According to the four Core Values, the university is supposed to strive to have a nurturing environment.
Speaking on behalf of The Horizon staff, we can’t do that when a knowledgeable source won’t talk to us.
As a student, ask yourself if you feel like this is a nurturing environment. If so, is that because of the administrators whom you probably couldn’t name, or is it because of the professors that spend their time trying to help you learn?
In the interest of fairness, I do think some administrators are patient and cooperative with us.
They have a lot of responsibilities, and some go beyond what’s required of them to help journalism students write a story.
We appreciate, and most importantly, learn from them. So does every reader of The Horizon. We take a hands-on approach, and we’re better students for it.
Because many administrators actually talk to The Horizon, we print eight pages of the newspaper for 12 issues each semester. That’s a lot of content, and, for the most part, it just focuses on IU Southeast.
I don’t understand why administrators are so secretive around here.
It’s not like The Horizon is just looking to cause trouble. We report on what is happening on campus.
In fact, almost all of what The Horizon prints highlight’s the university’s achievements. It’s free publicity, and, without us, students wouldn’t know much about their school at all.
I think the reason some administrators treat some reporters with disrespect is simply because they are guilty by association. I’m willing to bet a lot of them have a grudge against past reporters and a current cartoonist, and they’re taking it out on current reporters.
In every example I pointed out in this article, each reporter had no previous encounters with those administrators. They just got the short end of the stick, which keeps us from learning.
Shouldn’t the administrators be promoting learning, instead of inhibiting it?
I know professional reporters get treated this way, but I think the university should be more forthcoming.
It has been said that the “S” in “IUS” stands for secrecy. It has also been said it’s easier to get information about the Kennedy assassination than it is to get basic information here.
In other words, lighten up.
By JOSEPH DEVER
Editor
jwdever@ius.edu