If you have read the Huntington News over the past few weeks, you may have noticed that the editorial page has become a platform for student discontent with Northeastern’s administration. Editorials and columns have expressed anger and frustration over the potential College of Arts Media and Design (CAMD) mergers of journalism and communications, as well as music and theater. Emily Huizenga’s letter in the Oct. 31 issue epitomized the feelings of many Northeastern students. There are problems on many levels. All of these problems funnel down to one main issue: communication.

There is a definite disconnect between the student body and the administration of this university. As students, we lack an effective means of communicating our concerns and criticisms of the direction of the school to its leaders. As administrators, the leaders of Northeastern lack an effective means of addressing those concerns or including us in their plans.

Throughout its history, the Huntington News has been a platform on which students have voiced their opinions on the administration’s decisions – academic and otherwise. Students have always felt comfortable presenting their views and trying to have a hand in shaping Northeastern into the university they want it to be.

Each week the editorial page is filled with student pieces that ask the important questions, identify injustices and call for change. As a paper, we are incredibly grateful for this. Our publication thrives because of this interactivity and without it, wouldn’t be possible.

But staying true to our journalistic roots, we are compelled to tell both sides of any story. We seek to make our publication a forum for Northeastern discussion – for both students and the administration. In short, we want the administration to feel comfortable using The Huntington News as a tool of effective communication and discourse between itself and the student body.

We don’t want press releases and misleading statements – we want legitimate correspondence that exhibits a sound, open relationship with the student body. As a university we are a unit. That being said, as students we deserve to have full disclosure from the administration just as they expect to have from us.

Half of the reason the CAMD merger was so negatively received was because of the way the administration just slipped it into the plans. Students of the majors in question found out about it from their professors. When pressed, Dean Xavier Costa managed to raise more questions than answers and the students felt muffled – and amidst all of the student opposition (published in the Huntington News and elsewhere) not one letter to the editor from the administration.

We urge the administration to reevaluate its apparent opinion of the Huntington News. While we reserve the right to criticize its decisions with regard to Northeastern, we are more than open to hearing its views on those decisions.

If plans like the CAMD merger cause a stir, the administration shouldn’t be afraid to address student concerns through the primary on-campus publication. It’s what we’re here for. We need everyone’s input to do our job correctly. The paper is merely a tool with which information can be made available to the masses. It’s up to the readers to come to their own conclusions.

It’s time to push any adversarial feelings aside and put down the public relations guns. Northeastern students just want to feel involved with the leaders of the university. Too often students are left hanging while the leaders move on to bigger and better things. There needs to be actual synergy between the two groups.

The Huntington News can be the bridge between them. If you are a member of Northeastern’s administration, consider this an appeal – we want your opinion. There is no better way to keep students in the loop than an informal, 500-word letter to the editor. Without your input, the discussion will forever be one-sided.