OPINION
4
THE RECORDER Wednesday, October 5, 2011
EDITORIAL
Rumor: Copernicus May (Or May Not) Have Been On Fire According to some sources on Twitter and Facebook, Copernicus Hall burst into flames Monday evening and classes would be cancelled for the week. White smoke was billowing from the building, firefighters were on the scene and students were rejoicing that their beloved classrooms would be far too damaged for academia to occur within them. This misinformation went on for some time. Two of our reporters were dispatched to gather information; one walked down to the scene of the alleged fire, the other called the University’s spokesperson for more details. Almost simultaneously, they discovered that the white smoke was steam spewing from a broken valve in the building. Firefighters and police officials laughed off questions about any emergency as they
left the scene almost as quickly as they came. The spokesperson confirmed that the situation was under control, going so far as to say that there was “no situation” at all. Rumors spread much more quickly through social networking. Sometimes it’s a good thing: news of an east coast earthquake in August literally traveled faster than the earthquake itself thanks to Twitter and Facebook. Other times, students are jumping for joy in their pajamas to the thought of cancelled classes and burning academic buildings. While social networking can be a useful tool, it must be used with caution. Students have a responsibility to exercise judgment and critical thinking as they digest the overload of information accessed through these networks. Retweeting,
liking and sharing can all be useful tools to disseminate accurate information, but dangerous when disseminating inaccurate information. We feel it is important to ask a series of questions when absorbing any information. Is the purported event possible within the details given? Do the details given validate the conclusions being drawn? Where is the information coming from? Is it a reliable source? If a given student had asked these questions, they may have wondered why smoke from the alleged fire wasn’t black. They may have wondered why the conclusions being drawn by social networkers didn’t align with the given information and that many people spreading the information hadn’t seen the smoke firsthand.
On the other side of things, news sources have a responsibility to act as reliable sources. When we caught wind of the rumors, we arrived on the scene and contacted reliable sources to gather more information. Upon discovering the information, we made a point to correct the inaccuracies being spread around by hopeful students awaiting class cancellations. For news organizations, it is often easy to submit to sensationalism and use similar rumors as the basis for news stories. Sometimes, our best work comes from correcting misinformation rather than disseminating new information. Students must not only exercise better news judgment, but choose the right reliable sources that they can count on to deliver the real story.
EDITOR’S COLUMN
Take Advising Letter To The Editor Season Seriously
nicholas proch The Recorder
This is now my fifth year at Central. Five years of tuition, housing, books, gas, food and countless other monetary obligations that allow my degree to take shape. I thought about putting the time in to find out the exact cost of tuition, housing, books and whatever else I can find that I’ve kept the receipts for, but I didn’t. I chose not to do so, not because I am lazy and overwhelmed with the six classes I am taking, but I didn’t want to think about the amount of money that I’ve payed to this University. What I can tell you is that this year, my fifth year at this four-year school, I’ll spend at least $15,000 on tuition, rent and my books. This doesn’t include food. Doesn’t include fuel in my car. Doesn’t even include my utility bills. With this money, I could pay off my credit cards, the remainder of my car payments and go on an all-inclusive trip for a week to Punta Cana. Before this causes me to have a heart palpitation, let me move away from the amount of federal reserve notes that I’m going to spend this year because of my own decisions. When I came to school, my path was not defined at all. I was thrown into a prebusiness program that didn’t get along with me, and I didn’t get along with it. It wasn’t that there was a lack of understanding for the program and material being taught, but it bored the life out of me. We all come to this campus to learn, but more importantly
be engaged, and this just wasn’t cutting it. I needed to make a move, and I did, to the communication department. It was at this point that I actually got a fair and close look at what my path should be. However, this time it wasn’t from just myself, I actually had an advisor who went through and told me what I should be taking if I was interested in what to fulfill my major. I had been getting advising before this change, but I wasn’t taking it very seriously. Taking classes in whatever subject interested me seemed like more fun than actually taking a math class that I should have been taking. At this point, my advisor told me that it would be nearly impossible to graduate in four years due to the fact that I had taken so many courses that didn’t fit and skill areas or fill requirements. That was a slap in the face. I was awoken to the fact that I actually needed to listen to what an advisor was telling me. If you’re a first or even second year student at this University, pay attention to your advisor. You can think that you can figure out what you want to take to graduate, but then you’ll be in a position that a lot of us have been in. It doesn’t hurt to spend 15 minutes with a professor and have them tell you exactly what you should be taking. You can save yourself a lot of time, money and stress by focusing on your end goal and continually make sure that you are taking what you should be taking. Advising season is upon us, don’t let it pass without making sure you have a plan for your next semester and beyond.
To the Editor: Responding to SGA stray out of order, I have a gavel which I Professionalism (rarely) swing to call the attention of the room back to me, and to direct the attention back We, as students and student organizations on to where it should be. That happened on only campus – from the individual student, to the two occasions during the 1 hour & 36 minute diverse collection of student run clubs and September 21st meeting that the article I’m organizations, to the governing body – are citing is in reference to. Yes, there were other all involved in a life experience of learning, isolated outbursts, but they did not disturb the growing, and preparing for some ever-elusive meeting to a point requiring my intervention. and soon to be obtrusive “real world”. Much Admittedly, Vice President Braun and I get like The Recorder has humbly mentioned frustrated at outbursts during meetings, but in multiple editorials in the past, we all will we are not embarrassed by the senate. We make mistakes from time-to-time, and we will – Treasurer Alaimo, the Vice President, and learn from them. However, this is the time in I – are very proud of this group for their which we learn to be accountable for mistakes productivity and their accomplishments. or inappropriate actions. Still, more needs to be done, and I will not be satisfied with our group until we reach our full Drawing that comparison again to this potential. This may be an impossible task, but newspaper, as both our current and most it is an enduring goal. recently departed Editor-in-Chief have done at times, I take full responsibility for the All else aside, this is not an attack on the group in which I lead. Unfortunately, I don’t article. In fact, I commend Mr. Stankiewicz have the opportunity to give a read through for writing this piece. It’s always a positive before going public with Senate information. thing for our fellow students to come to our Our meetings are live-tweeted to the campus, meetings and lend us their opinions on how and scrutinized weekly by The Recorder. This we are doing. Jon is an excellent example of is a necessary burden on us, for the sake of the a proactive, involved student, and I would student body. encourage more students on campus follow his lead. His contributions to The Recorder Jonathan Stankiewicz makes a great point this year, both as a writer and a news editor, in his article titled “SGA Professionalism”, have been consistently interesting, poignant, appearing in the September 28 issue, that and relevant to this campus, and deserve “there needs to be a serious and conscious recognition. effort to conduct meetings in an orderly fashion”. Making that effort is my job, and On an ending note, to address the student I take it incredibly seriously. It is not my body and readers of The Recorder: I intention to condone poor behavior, nor is it encourage you to judge us. I also invite you to my intention to excuse it now. It is, however, take into consideration opinion articles such my intention to defend my Senate. as “SGA Professionalism”. I would challenge you, though, to personally attend one of our I am glad this article was written, because it meetings to formulate your own opinion and is important to know how we are perceived judgment should you choose to make one, and at meetings, even if it is only one perspective. I think that you should. Nowhere else, for the The article was also effective; the most recent rest of your life, will you have such easy access meeting was conducted at a higher level of and powerful influence on your representative professionalism, with less outbursts. Referring body as you do here with your CCSU Student to the Student Government Association as Government Association. I implore you to ‘a circus’, though, is what I would refer to as take advantage of this compelling opportunity. sensationalism, and I hold this position as a Our meetings are every Wednesday at 3:05pm matter of fact. I do say this with much due in Bellin A&B in the Student Center. All are respect to Mr. Stankiewicz, and confidence welcome to attend. that he will not take this personally, and I did not [overlook] that this page was marked as Sincerely yours, “OPINION”. Eric Bergenn I am the one who is in charge of maintaining SGA President order at these meetings. When meetings eric.bergenn@my.ccsu.edu
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