As of yesterday, most of the Northeastern community knew the cornice of a residence hall at 337 Huntington Ave. collapsed at 8:30 a.m. Monday, sending several tons of stone falling five stories down to the sidewalk without hitting a single person. But unless you were full-time faculty and staff, this knowledge was not courtesy of Northeastern.
The NU alert system, meant to notify students and parents who sign up of emergencies, did not send out a message until 11:46 a.m. yesterday morning ‘- about 27 hours after the incident.
True, the university is often criticized for over-communicating, as Vice President of Marketing and Communications Mike Armini pointed out in an article in today’s issue of The News. In this and many other situations, the university likely faces a ‘no-win’ situation ‘- you can’t please everyone, and some people might want an alert while others wouldn’t. The problem, it seems, is a student body that is often equally apathetic as it is upset when uninformed.
The Student Government Association (SGA), for instance, is often criticized for not communicating with the student body enough. But most students would be surprised to know that the SGA maintains a Twitter account to actively update students on their doings. SGA President Ryan Fox also tweets on his personal account in an attempt to connect and inform the student body, and as reported in today’s issue of The News, SGA also has a Facebook page with the same goal.
These efforts are admirable, but their tweets and status updates are unlikely to reach more than a handful of students. The News reported today that although the SGA welcomes discussions on its Facebook page, students have yet to get involved. Those who aren’t aware of these outlets will probably continue to complain about the lack of communication, while those who don’t are likely to complain that the SGA takes itself too seriously. The criticism will be doled out no matter what.
Even The News is no stranger to this criticism, often told that its only readers are administrators, SGA members, editors or editors’ parents. And while the latter makes up a large part of our readership (hi, Mom!) we do what we do because we feel it is important that the Northeastern community has this information available to it.
Feelings toward SGA and The News aside, students should care ‘- at least a little bit. The term ‘Northeastern community’ gets thrown around a lot but isn’t always taken to heart. Students are the dominant ‘- and arguably most important ‘- aspect of this community and have an obligation to remain informed. There are no unrealistic expectations of consuming as much news as possible, but if you seek information every once in a while, you really have the right to complain when it’s not there, like in the case of the cornice collapse.
Parents, believe it or not, are a part of the community as well. That means that they deserve to know what is going on. They shouldn’t be hearing about an incident that could have easily killed someone from the Boston Globe or CNN. Unlike The News or any other media outlet, the university has the unique ability to instantly reach all of its community members who, when it comes down to it, are its customers.
‘ With that kind of power comes responsibility. The community was promptly informed about the mumps outbreak and is always informed of impending snow storms, so why did the university drop the ball on Monday? Perhaps the alert system needs to categorize ‘- traffic alerts, weather alerts, emergency alerts, etc. ‘- and allow students and parents to be selective. That way, everyone gets what they want.
Whatever the reason, it is a lesson for all. Students need to break their apathetic habits and the school needs to step up the communication efforts.
Communication should be a two-way street, afterall ‘- even if that street is covered with broken cornice.