When you came to the University this year, you expected to get an education at a institution of higher learning. Did you also know that you should expect your administrators, faculty and staff to have your best interests in mind and to respect your opinions and ideas?
While reporting on a story regarding the Office of Residence Life’s censorship policies, The BG News feels one administrator has abused his authority and position to intimidate and threaten those involved with the situation.
Two weeks ago, the News began researching a story about a residence hall T-shirt situation in the MacDonald Quad. The shirts referenced the fact that there are many false alarms in Mac, and in essence made fun of this fact by showing a prominent fire alarm pull station. The shirts were approved and printed, but then were banned when the Office of Residence Life saw the design.
Nick Hennessy, the Interim Associate Director of Residence Life, was concerned that the shirts would encourage students to pull more fire alarms. This is a valid concern, as false fire alarms are a huge problem on campus, and do detract from real fire alarms. However, it is Nick Hennessy’s following actions that raise a larger issue.
Another student organization on campus was prepared to sell the T-shirts under the slogan, ‘too hot for residence life.’ Nick Hennessy sent an e-mail implying the students’ organizational funding might be jeapordized if they continued taking orders for the shirts. The e-mail read, ‘I suggest you cancel the campaign immediately, in order to avoid the pulling of your SBC funding and further sanctions.’
Nick Hennessy cannot pull SBC funding. He has no power or authority to pull an organization’s funding single-handedly.
When he heard that the BG News was trying to run a story on the T-shirt issue, he threatened both legal action against the paper and against the editors and/or reporters involved. There is no excuse for these actions. Nick Hennessy is using his position as Interim Associate Director of Residence Life to try and control aspects that are not his to control.
The issue is not whether the T-shirts should or should not have been censored. What should concern students is how an administrator at this University handled the situation, especially when it is one he did not agree with. Students’ opinions should be treated as valid and worthy just like other adults’ would be treated. Nick Hennessy probably started out voicing a very valid and worthy concern, but has since gotten carried away with his position and authority.
Nick Hennessy, or any administrator, should not be able to use his or her position to intimidate, threaten, or abuse students or organizations in any way. The students have as much right to disagree about an issue as does the administration to control situations on campus. We feel that Nick Hennessy should be held responsible for his unprofessional actions and he should be disciplined as his superiors see fit.
We would hope that the Director of Residence Life would have the students’ best interests in mind. Hopefully, the false alarms are what spurred the banning of the T-shirts. However, the way that Hennessy handled this was very unprofessional. The students are this University’s major interest, and therefore should be the major concern and issue here. No one should be able to bully students around.
