Letter from the Editor in Chief

Communicate or all is lost

By Nigel Chiwaya

No one is ever happy when their job performance is questioned. It’s human nature to become defensive when we are challenged by those around us. We all like to think highly of ourselves, and at the core of those high thoughts is the belief that we can work well in our jobs. However, there are plenty of times where our competence will be challenged. If you work for a college campus, the number of chances will only increase.

This semester, we here at the NYIT Chronicle have covered multiple stories where we focus on student’s reactions to events on campus. Sometimes those reactions are positive, and sometimes those reactions are negative. However, whatever they may be, we try to present them as accurately as possible.

That doesn’t mean we have a bias, or that we agree with the student body. We can sympathize, because the Chronicle is a student newspaper. We are all students, and the developments that affect the student body affect us as well. However, when we present controversial topics, we try very hard to keep our opinion out.

There is a reason we choose to deal with these topics in the first place, and that is because we want to respect our responsibility as the student voice. I am a senior at NYIT, and far too many times during my four years here have I heard students complain about an issue to their friends. When asked if they’ve talked to anyone else about it, they say no. To me that is a problem, because if issues are never brought to light, change can never occur. That is why we ask for student opinions. That is why we encourage students to submit opinion pieces. We feel that every student has a voice and deserves to be heard.

So when we present hot button topics, we do it because these are issues that the student body cares about, and because we hope to encourage dialogue between students and faculty. The administration will never know what they are doing wrong if it is never brought to their attention. Along the same lines, no one will ever know what administration is doing to make things better if administration never announces it.

If we here at the chronicle have a purpose, it is to be the vehicle through which dialogue occurs between the students and the administration, nothing more, nothing less. To anyone who may have felt offended by our coverage of event this semester, I apologize, but I myself, the other editors, the staff, and our advisors stand by our decisions. It has never been anything personal. If we choose to ignore topics simply to spare feelings, we are not fulfilling our job as the student voice of the campus.

That is not to say that the student body is always right. There are times when students react without hearing both sides of the story. We tend to get angry and assume that “NYIT does not care” about us. The majority of the time, this is not true. Even the worst catastrophes at this school were born out of good intentions.

So to both the students and administration, want to say this: breathe. Calm down. Neither side is evil, and both sides want what is best for NYIT, even if both sides have different visions of what is best. However, the only way that positive change can occur is if dialogue is constantly happening between both sides. We must communicate, or all is lost. We here at the Chronicle will continue to force communication, even if it means getting called names every once and a while.