COLUMN: The fall could bring serious change at CMU


Anyone who spent more than a few hours on the campus of Central Michigan University during the 2011-12 academic year could tell things weren't going well.

From a faculty strike, a $10 million lie, lack of transparency about the College of Medicine and a website that is nothing to brag about, there were plenty of leadership problems.

That begs the question, will the leadership issues change this semester?

While that's an unanswerable question for the time being, there there have been moves to make transparency and communication key at this university.

The summer resignation of Associate Vice President of University Communications Renee Walker might be the most positive move to happen at CMU in years. From gaffes during University President George Ross' speech to media during the FA strike, the new CMU website, or even hiding a $10 million allocation to the Events Center, Walker and University Communications had its hands in all of CMU's problems and managed to be more of a detriment than help.

As one CM Life editorial said, "when there is a job that needs to be done wrong, University Communications is the right office to call."

Sherry Knight, interim vice president of University Communications, taking over of the office could be a breath of fresh air, but it's too soon to tell, as nothing serious has happened yet.

Meanwhile, there is still hope that the Shared Governance Committee, made up faculty, staff and administration, can sort out the multitude of leadership issues this campus faces.

Here's what I can promise this year at Central Michigan Life: just because there isn't a pending union strike and contract negotiations doesn't mean that our vigilant watchdog efforts have changed. We will continue to push for public transparency from public institutions and public officials.

This year is quite important to the future of this university as major decisions are made on the College of Medicine, the Biosciences Building and the Graduate Student Union begins bargaining.

After the tumultuous academic year of 2011-12, it's more important than ever to question and have open discussion when decisions are made.

Ross has said communication will be key this year, and if he holds his word, that means there won't be a College of Medicine pulled on to campus through the veil of night, and we would be aware that CMU allocated $10 million to the “Student Tuition Arena."

But if communication is indeed key now, it's time to start talking and making legitimate changes at this university.

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