I would like to start by saying I am not the only one who agrees with the below statement:
I am usually very tolerant with people who don't always agree with my viewpoint. I cannot always be right, nor do I claim to be; however, there comes a point where someone has to take a stand against a broken system. When students rely on your organization, I have a duty to take such a stand at my capacity as student body president.
Since the start of my term in March 2012, I have seen the inability of the Daily News to report on issues that affect the entire campus. Instead of reporting major issues that will affect students or events students should attend, you've been reporting on bartenders in the village and Neely Fest (an event that was not even affiliated with Ball State University at all). Members of administration approach me about strategies of getting the Daily News to cover their stories. There are important stories we cannot get published.
Let me provide some examples of stories the students should be aware of on campus that you have failed to cover:
1. Students are being charged an additional $150 per credit hour after they reach 140 credit hours and four years.
2. Student evaluations may become mandatory and grades may be held.
3. A fellow student wins Miss White River and gets to compete in the Miss Indiana competition.
4. Student Government Association tries to make the intersection of New York and Bethel Avenue safer.
5. 75 presidents attend the President's Retreat in Winchester hosted by the Office of Student Life.
6. The Student Rewards Program already has over 3,000 people who have participated.
7. Degree Works will be launched in October to replace the DAPR.
8. For the first time in years, the Student Government Association has filled all
of the University Senate seats in committees and subcommittees, allowing each of these groups to run.
9. October's Information Security Awareness month.
10. Next week is the campus wide Alcohol Awareness week, involving a variety of departments and organizations.
11. The Ball State H.H. Gregg Center for Professional Selling is the host of over 100 employers for their sales competition this Friday.
12. Student Government Association raised awareness of the disabled students event checklist to all organizations on campus.
13. SGA day had over 500 attendees at the start of the semester.
14. Student Government Association creates the Freshmen Leadership Council.
15. President Gora plans a meeting with student leaders to discuss how to have students graduate in four years.
The list goes on and on.
Instead of covering these important issues, the Daily News writes condescending articles about our football team and the elected leaders of the Student Government Association. I was there during the interview with my executive board (By the way, we are no longer Alliance. We are the Student Government Association Executive board. No longer refer to us as Alliance.) and it was 95 percent positive and full of great information students should know about on campus. The other 5 percent, the part that was actually published, was negative.
We get it. You may not like the current Student Government Association Executive Board. You want to magnify everything we are doing wrong and not report on anything that we do right.
At the start of our term, we were very worried about what the Daily News thought about us. After a few months in office, the Daily News could give us a failing grade at the end of our term and I decided I would frame it and hang it in the president's office. It would be a constant reminder that people will always know more about your position than you do and they will always tell you what you were doing wrong. If you listen to them, you will never make a worthwhile change during your entire time in office.
You can start criticizing my job and the job of all of the students involved in the Student Government Association once you start doing your own.
Chris Wilkey
Student Body President
-á
Editor's Note:
We're wrong about some things, but we don't want readers to think we've ignored some of the good stories mentioned in the letter.
Actually, we have written about course evaluations (http://bit.ly/RcaERd); the sports rewards program (http://bit.ly/VM8N86 and followup to come); and the SGA Day preview and follow up - http://bit.ly/Tf2nbv and http://bit.ly/Om8Nsy).
Two stories (alcohol awareness week and the sales competition) have not yet happened.
The final 10 were either not discussed with us or are in progress. This includes new graduation rewards and stipulations, Miss White River, New York/Bethel improvements, the Presidents Retreat, Degree Works/DAPR changes, Senate seats, the Freshman council, President Gora's student leader meeting, the checklist concerning students with disabilities and National Cyber Security Awareness Month.
In short, while we're a long way from perfect we're not as far behind as the list above might indicate.
That said, we're always working to get better. When you spot something we've missed or gotten wrong, like one of those stories, we'll count on hearing from you. In the meantime, thanks for reading the Daily News and for caring about Ball State as passionately as we do.
Benjamin Dashley
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