Frankly, We Need a Paper

I considered starting this article with a quote about government or authority. Some bitingly witty maxim about governing the least, absolute power, money, or fear of the people. Perhaps written by a historical president or a great Russian author.

But, if you're reading this first issue of Frankly Speaking (2.0), you are likely a member of the Olin community, and have been selected for this community because of some mysterious combination of intelligence, knowledge, charisma, and aptitude that you presumably posess. You already know about government. So I leave it as an exercise to the reader to briefly think of their own quote, and continue with the rest of the article. Done? Good.

No matter what thoughts bubbled up in your mind at this moment, no matter your political leanings, or social background, you can't deny one fact: Any sort of governing body needs to hear from its constituents. It cannot continue like a speeding train on a track laid years ago, by trustees and council members, for students who live in a bubble, interacting through private mailing lists, 14 miles west of Boston.

Here's another difficult-to-deny tidbit: Olin likes to keep control over what is published about it. Under "Passion for the Welfare of the College" Olin administrators have demanded the removal of student blog posts, disciplined students for even the possibility that information might be released, and promoted an atmosphere of secrecy and caution when publishing anything less-than-positive about the school.

Although professor-student interactions, and the availability of lower-level staff, are often promoted ("They eat in our dining hall!" "Class sizes are tiny!"), it is difficult to speak with those who make the decisions that govern the lives of these 300+ students.

Last May, members of the Board of Trustees made a rare appearance at the school in order to interact with the students. These "Trustee Buddies," as they were called, had to submit an application to the Dean of Student Life and the Vice President for Academic affairs in order to participate.

When messages are filtered along internal channels, through layers of bueracracy, it is no wonder that, by the time they reach the right ears, these messages are often ignored. The internal channels, which have become increasingly stretched, warped, re-routed, and jammed, are simply not good enough when the college's culture is at stake.

It is in the spirit of Olin College of Engineering, a school which I, and my fellow students absolutely love, that I say: Let's build our own channels. Let's start a paper, start a dialogue, publish both the completely wonderful things about the school and its problems, and bring Olin what it really needs. And what is it that Olin needs? It's up to you to decide. Send your articles, opinions, or thoughts to submit@franklyspeakingnews.com