The Student Association has announced that it has changed its formal interviewing policy with all campus publications to exclude most verbal communication with campus reporters and editors.
Under the new policy, which was delivered Friday to The Spectrum office in a memo and takes effect immediately, all questions for SA executive board members or their staff must be submitted in writing and subsequently answered via e-mail. In special circumstances, the new policy states, members of the executive board will speak to reporters directly.
"It is our hope the new policy will help clarify and properly communicate the sentiments of the Student Association," stated SA President George Pape in an e-mail, the only correspondence provided under the new policy.
"SA will be keeping copies of all correspondence for SA records. These records will serve use to future SA executive boards," he stated.
The policy change was met with criticism from state experts on open communication between government and the media, students and Spectrum editors.
George Zornick, managing editor of The Spectrum, said he worries this new communication policy will hinder the flow of information from the government to the students.
"I think one of the most important things we do is keep kids aware of what the student government is doing, and I don't see this as helping that process," said Zornick.
Due to the speed at which information moves on campus and in the newspaper industry, Zornick said, the crux of the problem lies in the amount of time necessary to submit interview questions and later to resubmit questions seeking clarification.
Answers to interview questions, the policy stated, will be answered in a "prudent and timely fashion." Pape later stated in an e-mail that questions will generally be answered within 24 hours.
The Spectrum sent initial interview questions to Pape on Friday and followed with clarification questions after receiving his responses Sunday. Response to the second e-mail was received Tuesday.
"We've been waiting four days for answers that would have taken 20 minutes," Zornick said.
Pape stated the policy will apply to all campus publications except for Visions, the SA newsletter.
As of press time Tuesday, Sue Wuetcher, editor of The Reporter, the campus community newspaper, and Gabrielle Peterson, editor in chief of Generation, the student-run magazine, both said they had not received any notice of the policy change.
A New York State expert on open government described the move as detrimental to students' access to information.
"It's ridiculous," said Robert J. Freeman, executive director for the New York State Department of State Committee on Open Government.
In Freeman's opinion, does this new policy foster open government?
"Not at all," Freeman said. "It fosters managing the news, if you will. It doesn't seem to me that an entity like a student government should keep any distance from the students."
Students had mixed reaction to the news of the policy change, citing concern over fair and timely representation of the government.
"Isn't the whole point of journalism to find out about the truth?" said Reginal Jacinthe, a senior health and human services major. "What's the point in reporting? That's a little suspect if you ask me."
Jacinthe said he believes the policy change is an effort to keep SA from receiving unfavorable coverage, citing as an example The Spectrum's breaking coverage of last year's proposed increase to the SA e-board's stipends to cover the cost of tuition.
"I think it's a good PR move on their part, but it's just trying to cover their butts," he said.
Marianne Varwig, a master's student studying law, said the process will keep students from contact with the government, but she understands possible reasoning behind the change.
"I think it gives them more safety, because they can think about the questions, think about the answers and are not faced with any spontaneity," said Verwig.
Zornick said he was confused about SA's reasoning, as its representatives generally give succinct, informed answers to interview questions.
"Since George (Pape) is such a great speaker anyway, it didn't seem to me that he needed time with his answers," said Zornick.
Desislava Kovatchka, a senior management information systems major, said the new policy could speed up the interviewing process, but will take away from the personal nature of an interview since it will not allow reporters to see the reaction of the interview subject.
"Questions probably could get answered faster because people are always on their computers," she said, " ... (but) you can't tell what they're actually thinking. Things could be misconstrued."
In addition, Freeman, the expert on open government, said he did not believe a policy shift like this could happen so suddenly or be decided via a memo. Under the Open Meetings Law, he said, a policy shift such as this should be discussed in a public meeting with sufficient notice so that students can voice their opinions.
"They can't make changes by memo," said Freeman. "They can't make changes in a closed meeting."
[Editor's Note: Due to the sensitivity of writing about the newspaper in which we report, this article was written by the editor in chief of the newspaper. It received five levels of editing before going to press, including a editing round with The Spectrum's advisor, Charity Vogel, a reporter at The Buffalo News.]
