Does community have a right to know all facts?

Editorial

Three weeks ago, The Pendulum expressed disbelief that organizations and campus administration would deny the Elon community information that students, staff and administration should be given for their safety and ability to participate in the community as informed citizens.

Previous experiences in gathering facts have led The Pendulum to believe particular organizations or offices at Elon had an unnerving tendency to cover up or “protect” certain parties from the press, the community and the government.

While The Pendulum respects individuals’ rights to privacy in many forms and circumstances, the student newspaper strives to provide the community with an accurate portrayal of the Elon community and hold its citizens accountable for the actions taken for or against the good of it.

Recently, The Pendulum has discovered that this sense of secrecy and policy of protection permeates the Elon administration, campus organizations and community leadership. Although there is much value in protecting the citizens of a community, Elon as a collegiate institution must become more transparent, to build individuals, better the community and care for those who breach its trust,

Throughout the past two weeks, The Pendulum has researched tips from several students and a faculty member indicating that inappropriate actions were taken by member(s) of PC Support that warranted university action.

Pendulum staff reporters called Fred Melchor, director of PC Support , but were forwarded to his superior Chris Fulkerson, director of instructional and campus technologies. Fulkerson refused to comment on the situation and subsequently issued warnings to students working in PC Support, requiring them not to reveal any information.

The Pendulum then contacted Gerald Whittington, vice president for business, finance and technology, who confirmed that there had been troubling incidents in PC Support recently.

“It was brought to our attention that someone attempted to offer items for sale inappropriately and the university took all appropriate action,” Whittington said. The Pendulum inquired as to the person(s) committing the offenses. Whittington said only that the offenders were Elon employees.

“We will neither confirm nor deny any information about employment,” Whittington said, responding in concordance with Elon’s policy to protect employees’ rights to privacy regarding their reasons for dismissal or resignation.

The Pendulum then pursued information regarding the items that were supposedly for sale and what actions were taken against the person(s) who tried to sell them. Whittington would not reveal information regarding these issues.

“I will tell you that any items that were offered are in our possession,” he said. “We have every piece of equipment we are supposed to own” and “We consider the matter to be closed.”

But The Pendulum still had questions. Were students’ possessions being sold? Are students or faculty at risk when PC Support employees come to their offices or rooms to fix equipment?

The Pendulum turned to law enforcement to determine whether Elon filed a criminal report against the person(s) attempting to sell university property. The Pendulum called Elon investigator Dan Ingle, who referred The Pendulum to Chuck Gantos, director of campus safety and police.

Elon Campus Safety and Police had no public record regarding the matter and Gantos confirmed that no criminal charges were filed.

Unsatisfied that students and faculty were still without answers to important questions, The Pendulum contacted the Office of the President. Leo Lambert confirmed the statements Whittington made, said that these statements were sufficient and would not comment further.

Where does the student newspaper turn next to provide the Elon community with a factual, reliable story, not based on hearsay or unofficial sources?

In this case, The Pendulum will not publish a news story clearing the incident of suspicion; community members will go on wondering who is responsible for this incident and if their possessions are at risk. But such worries are probably inconsequential compared to others related to incidents happening on college campuses every day.

Students get drunk. Students pick fights. Students deal illegal drugs. Students rape.. Students have inappropriate relationships with faculty. Students and faculty commit crimes and have them cleared for the sake of a future.

Insert Elon before each of the sentences above – the statements are still true, but when does the community hear of such things? What perceptions do Elon students have of their community? Many assume that Elon is crystal clean, that there are no worries about date rape or gang fights.

The Elon community fosters second chances, forgives and gives people a future who might not have one had they been elsewhere – which are trademarks of a loving community. There are some incidents, perhaps the one The Pendulum investigated this week, that do not deserve pubic notice of every detail, especially details that unnecessarily diminish a person’s ability to succeed. But how does Elon know these things will not happen again? Has the university reinforced the responsible party’s idea that it is OK to sell others’ property by allowing the offenders to slip away from their community unexposed?

At what expense and to what extent should the university protect members of the community and what is the community’s right and need to know? The Pendulum plans to benchmark Elon’s policy regarding private and public information against other university policies and compare how other student media have approached similar issues. The Pendulum asks the community to participate in this discussion by writing letters to the editor and continuing to read The Pendulum.