Campus culture is developed over time. It is something that changes constantly. The culture at California State University, Stanislaus is much different today than what it was in 1975, or 1985 or even 2005.
Even within the past four years there have been important shifts including the growth of the community’s relationship with the university, the effort to stop sexual violence and the improvement of interdepartmental cooperation.
All of these are accomplishments, and should not be understated, but there is a crucial cultural shift that needs to occur in direct relation to our hazing story this week and in the work we do at The Signal in general. The Signal is undeniably the biggest fan of our administration as a whole – especially President Sheley and especially the latest team working in the Public Affairs department. With that being said,The Signal wants to see more transparency happen this year in all offices across campus.
Transparency is not something that should fall solely on the shoulders of Tim Lynch, Associate Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs. It starts with the student organizations, elected ASI officials, club advisors, our Dean of Students, faculty, staff and every single per-son who works in MSR.
Let us give you an example. In the case of the hazing by ODPhi (our cover story), we at The Signal were pleased to learn, after a few vague emails, that the university took the allegations seriously. While we would never expect school administration to reveal the names of perpetrators in an active investigation (un-less criminal charges were brought, which makes it a matter of public record), we do expect transparency when attempting to confirm basic facts.
Basic facts like:
How many Greek Life chapters have been sanctioned this year and in the past 4 years? Which organizations? Why was each organization sanctioned? Executive Director of the Student Press Law Center, Frank Lamonte, was referenced in an article by the GW Hatchet discussing the importance of the disclosure of information in forming a healthy campus culture.
Yet, it was extremely difficult to get confirmation of the most basic facts and impossible to get others. Were it not for Lynch, it is doubtful we would have received what we did. As we strive to provide timely, informative news for our campus community, we want to be able to do so without displaced aggression when trying to work through a lack of transparency. There are two sides to a glass window, but it’s impossible to see through one clean side if the other is still foggy.