Unfair criticism of low student turnout

By Gus Bode

How can the editors of the Daily Egyptian dare criticize students for not attending the student open forum with the chancellor candidate?! When a student organization plans an event for students they usually do two things. First, schedule the event at a time when most students are available to attend, and then use several mediums to advertise the event. The organizers of the student open forum did neither of these things.

Most students have classes from 10:45 to 11:30 a.m. when the event took place. Like many students I have a class at 11 a.m. but, I still came to the forum at 10:45 a.m. to hear the first 20 minutes. Unfortunately it started late at 10:55 a.m., and I still missed a little class to hear the candidate’s opening remarks. My schedule is not unique. Why should students have to skip class to meet the candidates for chancellor? If the planning committee is truly interested in student input they will reschedule the time of future student forums with the remaining candidates.

The event was also poorly advertised. The Daily Egyptian deserves credit for running an article about it the day before the forum, but there was no notice in the DE the day of the student forum. I had to stop in two offices in the Student Center before I found someone who could tell me what room the event was in. If no serious effort is made to attract students to this event, then the school administration and the DE have no right to criticize students for low turnout.

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