HomeNEWSCAMPUS LIFEProtocol change limits learning

Protocol change limits learning

Journalism students and Chronicle staff writers at The College of Saint Rose are experiencing issues with access to information on campus, and as the college limits opportunities to interview employees, the policies are starting to hinder students’ ability to learn and apply their journalism training.

Employees at the college confirmed with The Chronicle that they were instructed to refrain from speaking with all media, including The Chronicle, without speaking with Saint Rose’s public relations office first. More often than not, student journalists are now steered to speak with Jennifer Gish, director of marketing and communications. The role of that office, like most colleges, is to promote the image of the college. One way this office and those like it at other colleges have decided to promote the college is by implementing a policy that encourages employees to refrain from speaking to any and all media, and then requires employees to direct all media inquiries to the marketing and communications offices.

“We ask as a courtesy that employees give us a heads up when there’s a media request,” said Gish. “That’s just so we have an understanding of…what kind of media is out there.”

In recent years, student journalists at the college have been running into obstacles while seeking information from sources who formerly were open with the press. Before reporters approach an employee for comment, it is now almost guaranteed that a student reporter will be sent to public relations, who then ask that the reporter first submits prepared interview questions through email before next steps are taken.

In some cases, employees are allowed to participate in an interview after the marketing department has been informed about the story. In most cases, however, Gish, whose job is to promote the college and share positive stories, is ultimately the one to respond to the questions. When marketing is inserted in the information gathering process, the reporter is faced with a wall between herself and the source making it harder to conduct a thorough interview. Like all journalists, Chronicle reporters seek out experts to share their knowledge of particular issues, but when a public relations official is involved, the answers become less authentic. Regardless of the form this policy takes, it ultimately results in reporters getting information that has been filtered through the department of marketing and communications.

Records maintained by The Chronicle show that these instances, when the college has obstructed direct access to sources and information, have been occurring since at least 2017, the year that Gish joined the college. Cases of campus sources sending reporters to the marketing department have increased steadily since. Over the last year, The Chronicle has documented more than 17 emails in which sources referred student journalists to Gish in compliance with this policy. Many of these interview requests resulted in Gish supplying information to reporters through email; sometimes Gish arranged interviews with employees, and in some instances she attended those interviews between The Chronicle and story sources. interview requests resulted in interviews arranged by Gish, and some of these interviews were attended by Gish herself. Many times, reporters were asked by the marketing department to submit prepared questions prior to the receipt of information.

One employee of the college told The Chronicle they could face repercussions if they spoke to the media without first alerting the marketing department; however, it was unclear what these repercussions would entail. Gish said there are no repercussions in place for employees who choose to violate the policy.

Staff and other employees in various departments learned of the prohibition about talking to the media from their supervisors. Departments across the college who have referred interview requests to marketing are wide ranging, and have included employees from Student Development, Residence Life, and the various offices in St. Joseph Hall, to Health Services, Facilities, Maintenance, and Campus Security, to name a few; this list is far from all-inclusive. Vice presidents of these departments have passed on the message, which came from marketing and communications, to the staff of their respective offices, according to Gish. Not all employees, however, received the message.

Phil Crandall, a part-time security officer with the college, appeared recently on the front page of the Ravena News-Herald in a piece about his standing in the race for Coeymans Town Supervisor. Crandall said he has never been notified by his supervisor, Steve Stella, or any other members of the administration, of any policy regarding media inquiries. However, when student journalists contact Stella, he refers all media inquiries to Gish.

“Even if I was told [not to speak to the press,] I would be highly offended,” said Crandall, who pointed at both the U.S. and the New York State constitutions as guarantees of protected speech.

After an employee at the Neil Hellman Library was interviewed by a Chronicle reporter, they later asked that the information they shared not be used because they had since learned that they are not permitted to speak to the press until they refer inquiries to the Public Relations/ marketing department.

According to a former employee of the Saint Rose security department, they were never told they could not speak with the press. But the former employee said it was implied that only the college’s president and her immediate advisers were allowed to speak with the press.

“I was never told that I could not speak to the press…it was implied though that the only people that were gonna speak to the press were Lisa Haley Thomson…or the president,” said the former security employee, referring to the college’s current chief of staff. Furthermore, this employee also said that the protocol was emphasized more under the college’s current President, Carolyn Stefanco, than under the previous presidents of the college.

Unlike most of the employees at the college, though, teaching faculty have reported that they never received notice of this policy.
The Chronicle, like college and university publications across the country, are facing new challenges when it comes to delivering journalism. At Northwestern University in Illinois, student journalists were attacked on social media after they took pictures of protesters objecting to a controversial guest speaker. This time the speaker was former U.S. Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. The student journalists adhered to ethical practices to report on student protesters. Top editors then published an apology, which was later attacked by professional journalists, who criticized the paper for apologizing for doing its job.

Student journalists at Harvard were met with backlash this semester after they wrote a story about immigration and included a passage describing their reporting efforts to interview representatives from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. A campus activist group, Act on a Dream, started an online petition advocating for The Crimson to ignore its responsibility to contact sources.

There has been an increase in policies similar to those at Saint Rose among institutions of higher education in an attempt to maintain a good public image and reputation according to Frank LoMonte, director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida. However, LoMonte said that some of Saint Rose’s practices are different than other cases he has seen.

“It is not customary to direct the policy to only certain employees or certain departments and certain units,” said LoMonte. However, institutions that allow teaching faculty more freedom than non-teaching faculty may do so to avoid outcry, said LoMonte.

“Academic freedom is one of the principles that higher education is supposed to honor, and that usually means that you give the teaching faculty a little more elbow room to express dissent than you do non-teaching employees,” said LoMonte.
Unlike public colleges and universities, Saint Rose students cannot rely solely on the First Amendment as a defense or an argument in a court of law. Those rights benefit public schools and universities.

“It’s ridiculous that they have these types of restrictions on you,” said Mike Hiestand, senior legal counsel at the Student Press Law Center. He also pointed out that protections for private schools are different than those afforded public universities and colleges.

When student reporters call employees and are met with resistance, the message is clear, said Hiestand.
“Being in a private school it is a much different legal system,” said Hiestand. “A lot of your battles will be battled in public opinion rather than [a] court of law.”

Under “Free Speech” in the 2019-2020 Student Handbook at Saint Rose, it states that “the College recognizes the rights of all students to engage in discussion, to exchange thought and opinion, and to speak, write, or print freely on any subject in accordance with the guarantees of our state and national constitutions.” Student handbooks, said Hiestand, can protect students with free speech rights. Protections can be different for employees, however.

Although issues with free speech are increasing across the country, some schools that have kept an open flow of information on their campuses. Siena College, another small, private institution in the area, does not appear to have the same limitations as Saint Rose does.

“Obviously with students we would want to be as accommodating as possible for the educational factor,” said Kelly O’Donnell, assistant director of marketing and communications at Siena College. “If anything, we would be more attentive to them.”

When faculty and staff at the State University of New York at Albany are approached by the media, they are “advised to ask reporters (regardless of outlet) to connect with us first before setting up an interview,” according to Mike Nolan, senior communication specialist in an email.

For press offices, it is intended for media relations professionals to provide reporters with the most accurate and up-to-date information, as well as to be a resource for the press.

“Of course, we cannot control or stop a faculty/staff member from speaking to press without first working through us,” said Nolan in the same email. “But, it is recommended.”

As for their independent student newspaper, The Albany Student Press (ASP) is financially independent from the university, unlike the Saint Rose Chronicle, which is funded by the Saint Rose Student Association. They are treated as an independent media outlet and would not be treated any differently than any other media outlet. The ASP editors “receive all press releases, media advisories and other newsworthy information that are distributed daily through [the] office.”

In addition to chilling the ability of the press to do its job, a gag rule or formal limitations of free speech would be considered an unfair labor practice, according to LoMonte.

The federal National Labor Relations board “cares [that] the workers…have a way to go to the press and to the public and…draw attention to concerns they have about their own working conditions,” said LoMonte. “If the answer is no, that they don’t have the ability to do that, then that’s a violation of labor law.”

Student reporters have run into obstacles even when gathering information about events that would reflect positively on the college, such as the annual Poverty Simulation, the transition from Student Affairs to Student Development, and the breadth of federal Work Study positions available to Saint Rose students. Gish said that The Chronicle is treated like any other media, despite student reporters running into obstacles while gathering information.

“We treat The Chronicle just like any other media,” said Gish. “What we do try to make clear with employees is, if you’re speaking to the media, you are doing so as an individual person, and you don’t represent the institutional view of the college.”

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1 COMMENT

  1. Thank you for your excellent article on what has been happening to Saint Rose under the Stephanco Presidency. Your focus is understandably on how student journalists have been impacted, but, as your article makes clear, speech for all College constituencies has been negatively affected. I would therefore like to propose that the Chronicle launch a contest for the entire Saint Rose community, a contest challenging us all to submit pithy messages that more accurately describe the current Saint Rose reality. You know, like the slogans on those banners flapping around campus. Let me start us off: “HOME. OF BIG IDEAS, JUST NOT CRITICAL ONES” “HOME. OF DISCOVERING YOUR PATH TO CONFORMITY” “HOME. OF WORLD CLASS SUBSERVIENCE” I’m sure you get the idea.

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