I often spend my columns pointing out The Cavalier Daily’s shortcomings. I’ll get around to that this time, too, but I want to begin by commending the staff. Recent papers have been chock full of news, much of it connecting the University to the world off Grounds.
Part of the reason is simply that news happened. When a law professor is under investigation for the way he conducts his class and hands out grades (“Professor faces multiple accusations from students,” 3/18/2009); when hazardous drug cooking chemicals turn up in an apartment complex populated by students (“Police find toxic chemicals in GrandMarc apartment,” 3/19/2009), it’s not too hard to put together a newsy paper.
But stories that took extra effort and thought got in the paper, too.
And there were some pretty forceful commentaries, particularly concerning this spring’s commencement speaker.
It was good stuff produced by a staff of volunteers who could be playing Frisbee or drinking beer or even studying instead of spending time in the paper’s basement office.
And yet, because these are serous people who mean to do serious work, it’s appropriate to point out some things that could be done better — or, at the very least, some alternatives that should be considered.
In the story about accusations against Prof. Doug Leslie, an anonymous student talks about “arguably racist and misogynistic hypotheticals” and says the professor “should be forced to demonstrate the integrity of his allegedly objective grading formula.”
All we know about the speaker is that he took at least one class under Leslie and he “wished to remain anonymous.”
I wouldn’t have granted his wish.
His quotes didn’t add much to the story, yet anonymity gave the student a chance to take a shot at the professor without the discomfort of being examined in any way himself. Perhaps there was a justifiable reason for granting anonymity, but The Cavalier Daily’s readers weren’t told about it.
A story about University budget cuts spoke of those cuts (“Budget cuts limit number of new hires at University,” 3/18/2009) as if they were ordained by some Higher Power of Which We May Not Speak. We are told of “forthcoming budget cuts” and “planned reductions in state funding,” but it’s not clear who planned that those cuts would be forthcoming or how large they would be.
Even in this era of information overload, that is not enough information.
But here’s something else that puzzles me.
It’s been reported in other media — and I’ve been told by my local delegate — that higher education was “made whole” in the state budget. Though there was talk of whacking state universities’ budgets by 15 percent, federal stimulus money plugged the hole. The 5 percent budget cut that universities endured in October is still there, but the additional 10 percent cut that was feared did not happen.
So exactly what budget cut is the University dealing with here?
My last gripe for this week is about a gap in coverage caused, at least in part, because The Cavalier Daily staff doesn’t seem to think their publication is as important as I think it is.
There was a proposal to paint columns around the University some color other than white for a while. It was meant to make people think deep thoughts about conformity and academics and hidden symbolism and who knows what all.
I don’t know much about this because The Cavalier Daily never wrote about it. There was one column – the kind that’s written, not the kind holding up roofs – in support of the idea, but there was no news story.
When I first asked about it, about a month ago, executive editor Annette Robertson replied, “We’ll report on it next week when it gets approved or doesn’t.”
I don’t think that’s the way to go. People need to know about things before decisions are made, so they can join in the discussion if they want to.
When I still didn’t see a story, I asked managing editor Tom Madrecki about it. He replied, “Nothing has happened because by the time I found out about the story, the story in question had already been written by The Declaration — a full week (or more) prior. Stories admittedly slip through the cracks, and I don’t think that is limited to The Cavalier Daily.”
He’s certainly right about that last part. But I’m worried about the first part of his response. Whether the story of the colorful columns had been covered by someone else hardly matters.
The Cavalier Daily is the newspaper “serving the University of Virginia Community since 1890,” as it says on the front page five days a week. It is the University’s paper of record. Its stories are written both for today’s students and for anyone who might want, 100 years from now, to see what the University was like way back in 2009.
The Cavalier Daily’s attitude should be the no story on Grounds has really been covered until The Cavalier Daily writes about it.
Tim Thornton is the Cavalier Daily’s ombudsman. He can be reached at ombud@cavalierdaily.com.
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