Staff Editorial:Don’t Students Deserve to Know What’s Going On?

"The ability to use institutional research capabilities to quantitatively and qualitatively assess where a college or university is with respect to all aspects of its operations is the only way to chart where the institution needs to go, and how to get there."

This quote comes from Dr. Michael Middaugh, the assistant vice president for Institutional Research and Planning at the University of Delaware in Newark, Del. The quote was included in the power point presentation published by the Howard University Self-Study Survey Steering Committee as a record of findings and information gathered by the self-study last year.

Although Middaugh doesn't officially represent Howard University, his words definitely represent the stance the university needs to take when considering processes of accreditation and the equally pressing issues presented by students and faculty concerning the state of our great university.

Recognition (or assessment) of an issue is the first step in its being solved. As stakeholders of Howard University, students, faculty and even administration do an excellent job of constructive complaining and calling attention to the things that need to be addressed on and around campus.

Students are often detached from the later progression of the deal— the end result of all the complaining.

Interestingly enough, the fault may not lay exclusively with the students in this case.
It seems as though in many cases in the past, important campus events (namely vice presidential and provost tours, and accreditation summaries) were either purposely or accidentally scheduled at times that were inconvenient for students to attend, or majorly not publicized so students weren't aware.

The recent accreditation summary, an overview of the results of the university's recent accreditation results, was held last week in the School of Business. The overwhelming majority of students were totally unaware of the summary's existence, and those who did know about it weren't aware that it was even open to the student body.

The provost tours were held this summer when the majority of students (except student leaders) were away for the summer holiday. Last year, vice presidential tours were held both during Homecoming and midterms. This presents a pretty disturbing question. Are these important events being scheduled at times when students are almost guaranteed not to attend, or being under-publicized? A search through the Howard University newsroom and events calendar on the site resulted in a failure to find any mention of any such events. 

Noted, the majority of the student body is good for complaining, but proves apathetic to actually being involved in the processes necessary for change.
But what about the handful of students interested in and passionate about the betterment of the university, who might actually want to attend these events and be informed?

Even if these events have to be scheduled at times that are blatantly adverse to the average student's schedule, the university should make it a point to ensure students are at least aware of them.

Some students receive sporadic text messages from the university alerting them to emergency situations around campus, and other pressing information.

That same text message system could be used to inform students about important events such as accreditation summaries, among other things.
Students could even be alerted through our Howard e-mail system, as well as other methods; would posting fliers or making an announcement in The Hilltop really hurt?

Just because the subject matter of particular events is potentially controversial doesn't mean students shouldn't have the option of attending them. As students and stakeholders of this university, we deserve to be both present and informed.