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To date, The Cardinal has misquoted countless students at the University of Louisville. Among those, senior engineering major and SGA President Darrell Messer is the most misquoted on campus. Senior marketing major Maria Wimsatt, the Speaker of Student Senate, has labeled herself “pissed-off reader,” thanks to alleged misrepresentation in this newspaper.
In fact, The Cardinal has apparently misquoted Messer, Wimsatt and about 50 of their cohorts so many times that they started a Facebook group about the issue.
But instead of whining about what may or may not have been inaccuracies in the newspaper, perhaps it would have been more productive for these disgruntled campus leaders to confront the issue. Many of those who are part of the group have my office phone number, cell phone number and e-mail address; some of them even know where I live. I meet with a few of them rather often, I’d say, and still they’d rather gripe online than discuss their concerns in person.
I must give it to them, though: due to an editing error, we did get senior industrial engineering major Matt Pulley’s information wrong in a story in the March 6 issue. He’s not a sophomore.
And as for the group members’ witty assertion that “Jonathan Brown doesn’t know any of SGA’s policies and Maria Wimsatt ignores the SGA constitution,” I’d have to say they’re right.
Brown told me himself that senators don’t have to provide written notice of absences from meetings, despite Article 5.10.5 of the Student Government Association constitution’s clear explanation to the contrary. Wimsatt, likewise, admitted to me that she was “standing there” when at least one student was appointed as a proxy for an absent senator at an emergency Senate meeting earlier this month.
It seems our complainers in this situation have gotten their first true taste of the media. The Cardinal has been the first to sing student leaders’ praises as they called out the athletic department for its treatment of the pep band and demanded the U of L Board of Trustees reconsider its plan to renew the athletic fee. But just as it’s our job to recognize these rights, as journalists we must also shine light on the wrongs. Brown’s ignorance of the SGA constitution and Wimsatt’s apathy to the rule breaking landed them in the hot seat before spring break, and now they’re unhappy.
Moreover, the general purpose of the group – to give students a forum in which to voice their complaints about the newspaper – is really ineffective. The Cardinal is an open forum, published by students for students, and its staff welcomes feedback and contributions of all kinds. Instead of having a few hundred Facebookers stumble across your Web presence, ye misquoted ones, send us a message and we’ll print it for 20,000 to read.
Misdirected complaining only further evidences the general student work ethic at the university. We make presentations, posters and web pages, place phone calls and send e-mails until we run out of breath and our fingers fall off, but we just can’t seem to master the art of communicating correctly. Complaints are addressed most quickly when they’re directed to the right party, folks.
Despite the error, I admire the creators of the group for their hard work and never-ending pursuit of truth and accuracy. If they weren’t so busy with that, on top of botching Senate regulations, I’d beg them to come help me run The Cardinal.
