Secrecy breeds lies; don’t let it happen at UH

Students, if you care about your campus, it’s time to pay attention.

This is the most critical semester UH has seen in a while. There’s a looming budget deficit of at least $54 million. It’s an unsure time; programs are most likely going to be cut — and people are probably going to be laid off.

On top of it all, the administration — or the faculty — or the staff — or even the students — have never acted with more secrecy than today.

No one wants to be quoted; no one wants to take a stand.

What’s going on around us? It’s hard to tell (mostly because no one’s talking.) But if things like the KTRU debacle or the parking situation are any sign, it’s not good.

Between the construction across campus and the still-fresh Tier One pride, people campus-wide are becoming complacent.

Take the Student Government elections. The run-offs began Monday — yet the general election had less than 3,700 votes cast, when the enrollment for the campus is over 40,000.

That means that less than 10 percent of the student body voted. It also means that a football game draws about nine times more fans than the SGA does votes.

The SGA, while toothless, could actually be a driving focus for the University. They act as a unifying body — something all student groups and organizations can come to with problems.

Unfortunately, not too many people even know who their president is. Not to mention the individual senators from each college.

Or you can take the faculty and staff into consideration. Over the past few weeks, it has been increasingly difficult to get a staff or faculty member to speak about anything, even when it’s a quote about something completely harmless.

We are here to find out what’s happening. The Daily Cougar isn’t out to get anyone; the last thing we want to do is have someone lose a job or get pulled from an election.

An informed populace is an armed populace. If you want things to change — actually, really change — then get up and do something about it.