The Tufts administration has, in the past months, become increasingly unwilling to release information to student reporters. This trend comes at an especially trying time for the Tufts community, which is working through last semester’s revelation of the administration's failure to meet federal Title IX standards. For any community, concealment of the truth is an issue that must be addressed. For a college where student safety is in the care of administrators, transparency and the accountability that follows is fundamental.
After receiving an open letter from concerned students at the end of the 2012-2013 school year, University President Anthony Monaco organized a task force consisting of administrators and a few selected students to create better policies concerning sexual misconduct.The Sexual Misconduct Prevention Task Force will decide what changes there should be to sexual misconduct policies, yet it has been closed off completely by the University Office of Public Relations.When the only students welcome at the meetings are picked by the administration, and the press is not permitted to attend the meetings, accountability on the part of the administration becomes impossible.
In a separate incident, a reporter from the Daily working on an investigative story, the details of which can not be divulged, was stonewalled at every point of administrative access when every person contacted declined to comment. The lockdown of information alone is disturbing, but the administration's refusal to comment on a story that directly impacts student lives is especially ridiculous. While in the past reporters could speak with administrators in lower ranks, in this case no one was available. Even the students involved were cautioned not to comment. Some level of pushback is to be expected, but an effort to lock out reporting that reaches every corner of the administration is evidence of a new level of opaqueness. To most onlookers, a situation like this, with a conscious effort to prevent leaks of information, is evidence of something being covered up to spare reputation.
Our news reporting is not intended to be confrontational, nor is it an attempt to be attention-grabbing. The community, the students, the faculty and the staff all need an administration that will level with them on issues that matter and have a massive impact on their personal lives and safety. While there may be no official rule for the administration to be completely straightforward with the student body, we believe there is, in fact, an obligation for it to be transparent. Recent incidents, however, have displayed a discouraging tendency to withhold information. As long as transparency remains scarce in the administration, accountability will continue to suffer to the greater detriment of the students.
Correction: Dec. 3, 2014
This post has been updated and revised to correct two errors. The Sexual Misconduct Prevention task Force was not created in response to the university's non-compliance with Title IX as the editorial originally stated, but was instead created in the fall semester of the 2013-2014 school year. Additionally, students and administrators are, in fact, able to talk about the meetings after they take place.
To stay accountable, Tufts needs more transparency
