To the editor,
We wanted to take a moment to share with you our opinions on the way your publication, as well as your staff members, conducted itself following the events of Feb. 16. While we both appreciate and understand your commitment to reporting the news as it happens, we would implore you to take a moment to question whether what you were reporting was news or speculation; and further, how it impacted the students at the University at Buffalo.
As the events of Tuesday unfolded, The Spectrum took to it's Twitter account, making reference of missing students and witness reports, all of which incited a level of panic among our University community. While we understand you feel a journalistic obligation to report the news, repeating those unsubstantiated rumors caused chaos among the community and ultimately escalated the situation unnecessarily.
Moreover, it was incredibly disappointing to see senior members of your staff criticizing the means by which this situation was handled. Being that you are undergraduate journalists, and not crisis management specialists or law enforcement officials, we would be interested to know how you are qualified to pass such egregious judgments. As members of our institution who our students trust to deliver accurate and unbiased information, we are of the opinion that you blatantly misused that power.
Furthermore, as members of this community, we are both shocked and disheartened by the lack of respect shown to the University Police as well as Buffalo and Amherst Police Departments. While members of your publication were busy 'tweeting', these brave individuals were risking their safety to ensure ours.
The events should have made us come together as a community. Instead it left us having to choose between faith in our administration or faith in our student newspaper. If we should ever have the misfortune to experience an event of this nature again, we would urge you to exercise caution and responsibility in your efforts to keep our students informed.
We both, as we believe you should, trust in the University Police and our administration to make the decisions necessary to protect our community.
Grateful for UPD,
Crysti Biltucci Allie Goldstein
Senior anthropology major Senior communication major
biltucci@buffalo.edu asg7@buffalo.edu
