Members of SaveR-TV-F delivered letters to central administrators and School of Speech administrators and faculty Thursday calling for more communication on all levels of the radio-TV-film department.
Representatives of the Undergraduate R-TV-F Students Association are scheduled to meet Tuesday with Speech Dean Barbara O’Keefe.
Members of the group also worked Thursday to retract an e-mail they sent stating that proposed changes to the undergraduate curriculum would be implemented next school year. Faculty said Thursday that a decision has not been made to implement the changes.
Students in the undergraduate and graduate R-TV-F programs recently formed SaveR-TV-F to question past and future changes to the department’s direction.
SaveR-TV-F’s letter listed questions for faculty and administrators and detailed recent student efforts in organizing opinion. Student representatives Stephen Deline and Nate Pence said they received a few responses Thursday from faculty.
Associate Dean James Webster said he responded to Thursday’s letter via e-mail and that the students asked some reasonable questions.
“I applaud the students toward the end in adopting a measured tone,” he said. “I think it’s important that we have a candid conversation with students.”
R-TV-F Chairwoman Mimi White said she did not have time to read the letter Thursday because of university business.
“The students’ letter is important. It is not my priority,” she said. “I have other things to do as chair of the department. When I have time, I will sit down and read it. The university does not stop. My responsibilities as chair do not stop.”
Members of the group want to hold a faculty-student forum late next week, said Deline, a Speech sophomore. Webster said he would like to know who is participating in the group.
“I feel like I’m dealing with some number of faceless, nameless human beings,” he said.
A memo sent to the Speech production committee sounded like a definite plan for the upcoming school year and prompted SaveR-TV-F members to send the inaccurate e-mail to undergraduates in the department, Deline said.
But White said students sent the e-mail too quickly and did not verify its content with the Speech administration or faculty.
“There has been no official decision,” she said. “We are hoping to work on a plan of implementation.”
Students should still be concerned about the changes even if members retracted the statement that the decision was “official,” Deline said.
“It was slightly irresponsible for us to label that ‘official’ when we hadn’t taken the proposal back to (the administration) and gotten confirmation from them,” he said. “But the spirit of the message seemed clear, and we still feel that way.”
White declined to speculate on how the inaccurate e-mail might affect the group’s credibility.
“The students believe whatever they hear whenever they hear it,” she said.
