The Rotunda

Hi Rebekah,

First off, I would like to say that this is a great article and I'm glad that you're questioning things.

As a recent alumni (May '07 - Go Green!), I understand your frustration. During my four years at Longwood, I watched as Brock Commons emerged from a muddy hole in the ground. I witnessed the re-building of Granger and Ruffner. I remember when there was only a hill next to Wheeler where the new science building is now and I saw the major portion of the new recreation building go up as well. As construction went on all around me, I was frustrated by things I saw that should be fixed, like the air conditioning problems that have also been reported on in this issue. (Sadly, that's really not a new problem.)

So, at one point I joined SGA. It was a different group then and I actually didn't stay in long because of the in-fighting at the time, but I learned a lot. If I remember correctly, wealthier alumni who donate large sums of money for buildings (even if they don't fully fund a whole project themselves) have their money specifically set aside for those projects. I believe that, legally, there is no way for the Board of Visitors to re-allocate that money into other projects. When I was still in school, I learned that all construction projects had been fully funded for several years into the future as a result of the fire in 2001. It was my understanding that alumni and friends donated heavily afterward so that the signature buildings could be reconstructed. If you're interested in any of this, you could check and see if I'm right.

On an unrelated note: The RSS feed is great for The Rotunda. It is an easy way for the alumni to keep up with what is going on. I know I'm not the only one who reads it that way, so thanks. :)

You need a copy editor or need to read over your work. You look like you don't know what you're talking about with all the mistakes.

Rebekah,

Two things:

1. The money for Jarman was allocated to Longwood BEFORE the budget cuts.

2. The money is coming from bonds that voters (like yourself) passed a couple years ago.

In the future, I would suggest researching your topic a bit further before ranting on something you may not be up to speed on.

Editorials and commentaries need to be written carefully, after much thought and good research. Editorials set the tone for the newspaper. Opinion columns reflect the knowledge and sagacity of the writers. Or they should. The quickest way to lose credibility is to write off the cuff. This editorial, unfortunately, is very much off the cuff. It is snarky in tone, uninformed, and takes pot shots at people in a manner that is "cringe-worthy". Let not the excuse -- "We are students, we work very hard on the newspaper, sometimes we say things we should not" -- be offered here. Reporting and commenting is a serious business, and one should take them seriously.

The editorial could have informed the readers about the new building, all the ways in which it provides students and faculty wonderful new opportunities, and how Jarman renovation will provide students a better venue for the big events. Another editorial could have focused on where the money for renovations and new constructions come from, and why the new buildings and renovations are needed. If indeed there are questions to be raised about such renovations and constructions, then they have to be raised after talking to people on campus who have the information about these matters. Instead, a good opportunity has been wasted.

Yes, you are all journalists in training. But remember too what you produce is a public product and your primary responsibility is to be responsible!

I completely agree with the comment made above. Not only is this the biggest disappointment of an editorial, it is certainly not shine you, Rebekah, or The Rotunda in a good light. As an alum of this university, it saddens me deeply that people like you are not embracing but bad-mouthing and taking pot shots at people and things that you have no right doing.

START DOING YOUR RESEARCH! This article is clearly only your opinion and has no substantial research to be offered. If you had taken the time to do the research you would know that the money for the Jarman renovation was allocated long before the ground was even broken on the new Comm. Studies and Theater building. Additionally, just because you do not know what the plan is to house students during events such as LipSync or future performances, doesn't mean that the university does not have a plan (had you done some research, you probably would have learned what that plan was).

Ramesh said it right, a good opportunity has been wasted. There were several directions you could have gone that would have made this an outstanding editorial. Follow the precedent set by the leaders before you. Stop trying to cause a stir. You are dealing a huge blow to your credibility and you are going to cause yourself a loss of readership as well as a loss of respect for your publication.

I find your article over opinionated, too sarcastic, and for someone who is an Editor, written with a high school mindset. Did you do any research on this? Obviously not. I expect the Editors (of all people) to back up their work with solid evidence. If I wasn't happy with the Rotunda and all the hard work it has done and all the progress it has made in the last 2 years, Id probably stop reading it. I'm disappointed that The Rotunda put this in the paper and your article raises strong questions as to the integrity of your work.

Wow... I thought I was reading the Rofunda and not the Rotunda.. It made me laugh though, not sure you were trying to write a funny article but you did accomplish that...

I really like your enthusiasm and appreciate the questioning of things but you need to do a bit more research before diving in headfirst like this over things which you obviously dont completely understand. some say ignorance is bliss but as a journalist its kinda a character flaw. ah but I digress.

Point 1: Though your sarcastic humor is apprecited the 250,000$ pond by the new TS&C Building is actually a project aimed to control run off from the surrounding area. to prevent the "pond" from being an eyesore it was put towards a second purpose a public are for gathering and other activities. who knows maybe somebody would like sitting beside a nasty algae filled pond with beautiful landscaping. oh wait thats another part of your iggnorance. If you had done a little more research you would have known that most man made aquatic ecosystems go through an algae bloom or to before the system reaches an equilibrium.

Point 2: as chris already stated above Longwood DOES have the money for these renovations because the money used for them comes from a different source then other needs on campus. As a rule a university will not stop building or renovating buildings until there is immediate closure in the forseeable future.

Point 3: Blackwell hall has being under going renovations for the past year( oops theres more wasted money a building that was useless having money spent on it to make it useful, tisk tisk Longwood.) this has been done in order to prepare it to be used in jarmans absence as an auditoriumish place and in the future as the home for Conference and Scheduling events.

Point 4: Dr. Jarman i believe would be excited to see his namesake continue on into the future of this university that he loved so dearly and Im sure he will also like the rest of us understand that buildings wear down over time its the spirt and history that stays with them that matters

Your main problem is you assumed wayyyyy too much in this article and went on emotion instead of getting the facts straight.
Remember Rebekah what happens when you assume too much....." you make an ASS out of U and ME mostly you though

For your information, the cost of washing/drying in the Residence Halls here at Longwood are, on average, still much less expensive than the state average or the national average for college washer/dryer rates. The money made from these machines helps to pay for them. The money for new buildings or renovations often comes from independent donations from alum and others. The renovation of Jarman has been planned (and therefore funded) long before the talk of budget-cuts which took place earlier this year. Please, before you write your opinion/editorial comments for any publication, make sure your comments have factual backing and are not simply the thoughts that pop in to your head.

We need to get pat the grammar and spelling errors. No they should not occur at this level but there is a very valid point here. There is a huge amount of money being spent here. It may come from a different source but people do not know that and there lies the real problem - communication between administration and faculty/staff/students. This problem rears it ugly head SO often at Longwood. How hard would it be to to have more verbiage from the administration about what is actually going on.

John Graham is quite correct in that communication between the Administration and the Faculty/Staff/Students is really quite poor here at Longwood. I do not blame the writer for having some information incorrect as likely she was either given the wrong information or was forced to draw conclusions from the available material. When people refuse to answer questions because you are a student newspaper, it is rather hard to get everything you need. Or if people are scared that the truth will cause them more problems there is an even bigger problem. I hope that it is more often the first issue because that can be remedied by improving the quality of the paper (which has been quite a bit better factually, not counting some grammar/spelling errors than in previous years) and thus having the administration take you seriously. The second issue is one that is always going to be a problem because people today are mostly cowards who refuse to take the blame for any problems or try to solve them.

As a member of the SGA, I have worked towards more transparency through my position as Webmaster by helping to get the information and present it in a format people can use. Part of the problem in the past was finding people willing to do the work required to be open. Its a lot harder to be open and transparent than it is to be closed off and secretive.

As students, you should ALWAYS be questioning the policies and procedures everywhere you go; be it here at Longwood or in the real world. Questioning policies and procedures is what led to the Comprehensive Report on the Farmville Police and changes to the department. It is what leads to changes to the policy handbook that governs your lives and it makes for better representation by your Student Government.

I want to thank John Graham for pointing this out and I hope he will continue to point students in the right direction for information in the future. I want to thank our Student Government for the efforts they have made to be more open to the student body than in the past (though we still have work to be done, we are not perfect!), and I want to thank The Rotunda for having the guts to say what we are thinking and to take the criticism and corrections so they can be even better in the future.

Now, I want to challenge the Administration and other Faculty, Staff, and students to be more open and in the future own up to the problems we are having to everyone. Spider Robinson said, "Shared joy is joy increased, shared pain is pain lessened." Having everyone working on a problem instead of trying to hide it in the dark will result in things getting fixed, perhaps in ways no one would have thought on their own.

My name is Gerry Martin, I am a citizen-leader in training here at Longwood and I challenge everyone else to be the same!

I believe Gerry Martin does have a valid point that transparency is something that should be worked on, it is not as much the case with this article. There is a big issue here relating to transparency and that is in most cases it requires RESEARCH to be done by an individual. Here the author, Becka Tucker, should have actually done some research. Longwood does not hide all this information, in fact most of it can be found on the Longwood website. Also I have talked to many of the department heads and nearly all of them are willing to clarify information, or explain an entire issue if you simple ask them. This article I believe sheds a very poor light on The Rotunda as a whole. In addition the parts of this article where very unprofessional, for example "I hope that if the swine flu does become a big deal on campus the infected people don't rebel." This hope for a campus H1N1 out break is distasteful at best. In addition to remarks about students rebelling over a small increase in laundry cost and saying that it is something she would "like to see from a distance," this entire article sees very sloppy for The Rotunda and even worse that it came from the Editor-&-Chief. I hope to see some of these comments in this weeks issue of The Rotunda 1) because it is the second most popular article on the site with the most comments from last weeks issue and 2) because it will show that the Editor-&-Chief has integrity enough to be part of this campus media outlet.

One other note, I wish the best for the paper as this semester goes on. I have seen this paper improve drastically over my four years here at Longwood and it would be a shame if The Rotunda lost all the trust and respect that many writers and editors have worked for the paper to earn. So I ask everyone who is on the newspaper to please keep your stories professional and to continue to be keep the student body informed. As a loyal reader of The Rotunda I look forward to the the paper improving along with your editor and chief. Good Luck!

Check you spelling errors please...there is no need for all these errors. And all this money for the renovation of Jarman was set out 8 years ago. Along with the job cuts, she made that promise 14 years ago. Answer this did you think that we would have an 8.5 million dollar budget cut in one year? Another thing, printing in the library...we still paid for printing last year. If you expect printing to be free ask the school how much money they lost last year to copying. Check things before you go around making accusations and tearing apart officals at our school.

this is not your blog to the world. this is an article. next time you want to carry on a conversation with the public...get a twitter account.