Dear Aileen Burke,
We, the undersigned, are a coalition of Saint Rose graduates who call upon our fellow Alumni to cease any and all one time or recurring donations to The College of Saint Rose until the President, Dr. Carolyn Stefanco, and the Director of Marketing and Communications, Jennifer Gish, rescind their media blockade on students and employees.
We admonish the administration’s protocol that all correspondence between employees and the press, including student press, must be approved by the college’s public relations department. This protocol is a direct violation of a student’s and employee’s right to speak to the press, damages academic integrity, and tarnishes one’s ability to freely question authority.
Now, more than ever, we must encourage the voices of our younger generation to be inquisitive and fight back against injustice. However, in an effort to save face, the administration has decided to risk stunting this generation’s growth as well as to tie the hands of its employees and students in a bid to control the narrative. A narrative they wish to skew in their favor at the cost of employee freedom and student learning.
When an employee cannot speak freely speak to the media, we essentially force employees to be silent in the face of academic injustice. When student journalists have to run through red tape and public relation spin to speak to employee sources, we are actively diminishing their journalistic integrity and ability to shed light on the inequity and wrongdoing within their own community. To ask that interactions with the media be filtered and facilitated through the college’s public relations department is to stand against the values we wish to instill in our students – the ability to think critically and speak truth to power when others won’t.
We, as proud Saint Rose Alum, are disgusted to hear the administration would rather silence its own students and employees rather than risk transparency in an effort to cover up any and all criticisms and face any concerns or grievances within their own halls.
We will not stand idly by and watch our alma mater be silenced by those who should be facilitating the voices of students and employees. We reject any attempt by the administration to control the narrative when it comes at the cost of students, employees, education, and freedom of speech. We will fight back as the administration tries to create an environment where they can act with impunity.
The Saint Rose Difference lies in its students and employees and any attempts to infringe on their freedoms will be met with resistance. We call upon all other alumni to cease any and all donations to The College of Saint Rose until the administration rescinds its chokehold on student and employee freedoms.
In Solidarity,
Isaiah ‘Shy’ Agojo
Christina Romeo
Lauren Felicia Ennis
Sarah Kemps Brower
Chelsea Williams
Abby Finkelman
Joe Paparone
Meagan Lasky
Tyler Sumter
Sophi Dreslinski
Robert Eaton
Ebonėe Willoughby
Blake Vaisey
Jon Lefurgey
Brandon Montanye
Chris O’Brien
Kaylee Pagano
Nick Negron
Linda Serapilio
Amber Smith
Barbara Marmolejos
Derek Olander
Andrew Williamson
Conor White
Tyler Flood
Christiane Lee
Matthew Eisner
Anthony Auspelmyer
