2008 Woodie Awards
QU announces media task force
Mark Dipaola
Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: Campus News
Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Kathleen McCourt has announced the formation of a task force that will evaluate the university media policy that is currently in place.
The task force will consist of McCourt, Dean of Students Manuel Carreiro and Vice President of Public Affairs Lynn Bushnell. An e-mail that was sent to Professor Margarita Diaz and forwarded to Chronicle editor in chief Jason Braff, outlined the administration's plan, which includes meetings with both students and faculty.
According to McCourt, the task force is currently examining the policies of other universities and media outlets in what she deemed a "fact finding" phase.
"The task force is just entering the fact-finding phase, and we'll be looking at the structures and relationships of student newspapers at peer institutions as well as universities having strong journalism programs," said Bushnell in a separate email. "We'll also take a look at how commercial newspapers are structured."
The meetings with faculty and students, McCourt said, will be conducted afterwards, most likely in February and March. The team is hoping to have a proposal ready to be submitted to President John Lahey by the end of March.
Last semester, the administration's strict enforcement of a policy that requires student media organizations to contact John Morgan, the associate vice president for public relations, for interviews with administrators, sparked a campus outcry.
Before the semester break, the Student Government Association (SGA) passed a resolution declaring their support for campus media and the first amendment. This document was also sent to the administration, SGA President Sean Geary said.
"I feel very comfortable with being able to communicate with the administration," Geary said. "It's not a fight. It's supposed to be us collaborating."
Geary said that he is confident that students will be allowed ample opportunity to voice their opinion on the issue.
The task force will consist of McCourt, Dean of Students Manuel Carreiro and Vice President of Public Affairs Lynn Bushnell. An e-mail that was sent to Professor Margarita Diaz and forwarded to Chronicle editor in chief Jason Braff, outlined the administration's plan, which includes meetings with both students and faculty.
According to McCourt, the task force is currently examining the policies of other universities and media outlets in what she deemed a "fact finding" phase.
"The task force is just entering the fact-finding phase, and we'll be looking at the structures and relationships of student newspapers at peer institutions as well as universities having strong journalism programs," said Bushnell in a separate email. "We'll also take a look at how commercial newspapers are structured."
The meetings with faculty and students, McCourt said, will be conducted afterwards, most likely in February and March. The team is hoping to have a proposal ready to be submitted to President John Lahey by the end of March.
Last semester, the administration's strict enforcement of a policy that requires student media organizations to contact John Morgan, the associate vice president for public relations, for interviews with administrators, sparked a campus outcry.
Before the semester break, the Student Government Association (SGA) passed a resolution declaring their support for campus media and the first amendment. This document was also sent to the administration, SGA President Sean Geary said.
"I feel very comfortable with being able to communicate with the administration," Geary said. "It's not a fight. It's supposed to be us collaborating."
Geary said that he is confident that students will be allowed ample opportunity to voice their opinion on the issue.
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