As the University prepares for its upcoming accreditation evaluation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, some faculty members have complained about having their personal information posted in resumes that were once available to the public on the UH SACS Web site.
The University has restricted the availability of content related to faculty members and administration officials since early September.
While privacy issues are a legitimate concern, University officials seem to have taken faculty complaints – a significant number of resumes contained personal information such as addresses and personal phone numbers – and used them to cut off all access to credentials at the Web site.
It seems that especially now with the changes UH is experiencing – be it with PeopleSoft, a recently selected president/chancellor sole finalist or the UH System Board of Regents meeting in executive sessions with alarming frequency – students ought to be more aware of what actions the administration is taking for the sake of the University.
By cutting access to such an important source of information, the University is not allowing its student body to question decisions being made by officials and it denies students the privilege of being able to conveniently access their professors’ credentials.
Media outlets like The Daily Cougar cannot accurately report on relevant and important issues, such as the switch to PeopleSoft 8.9 and ongoing problems with financial aid, without obtaining information in a timely manner.
The University’s secrecy has made information acquisition a convoluted process, requiring reporters to go through bureaucratic hurdles that should not be there in the first place, sometimes rendering the reporting tardy in its relevance.
Rather than completely blocking access to officials’ credentials, the University should keep resumes for the public to view while omitting sensitive data.
Especially now while the accreditation process is ongoing, the information should still be made available without having to deny easy public access to officials’ credentials and professional experience in the offices they manage.
While the debate may go on about right to privacy versus the public’s need to know, problems within the University, such as enrollment concerns, have left students in the dark regarding UH faculty and administrative backgrounds, and the University has done little to foster academic transparency.
