The budget cuts mandated by the board of trustees have caused fear and concern all over campus. As the college newspaper, the staff of the Weekly would like to keep students, faculty and staff informed on the issues. Unfortunately, our job has been made nearly impossible as the flow of information has been stopped.
We don’t want to know where exactly the cuts will take place-we understand that such information is not available. We understand that things are still in motion and that none of the cuts will be implemented immediately. But, we do want to be able to fulfill our duty to our community by informing them about the process and the impact that the cuts are having on Mills. We want to replace word of mouth rumors with printed facts.
Our reporters have gathered information that seems to show the impact of the cuts on recruitment. But we are unable to present that information as fully as we wanted or because administrators refused to comment.
We have found information suggesting who may be assisting in the planning process and developing the criterion for the future cuts. But, the administration prefers to keep the process secret and closed. The staff wanted to list the faculty members who may lose their jobs in the shortfall, so that students and other professors could support them, but we were also unable to get that information.
In this issue, we have done our best to present to our community the facts that we do have. As always, we have tried to present them in a fair and balanced fashion. But, without access to the full story, we cannot replace rumors, we cannot dispel misplaced fear and we cannot alleviate concerns. We cannot fully do our job.
The Mills community is concerned. Its members need real information. Administration and staff need to let us do our job as student journalists and give us the facts.
