I was very disappointed to see that the first (and only) coverage of the search for the new UH president and UH System chancellor this
semester was an article on the final selection of Renu Khator. I was even more disappointed, however, when I read Ted Stanton’s letter to the editor Monday. The first notification readers got that students and professors were not able to meet with the other presidential candidates (which they had in the past) and that the University may
not have complied with Texas codes when announcing candidates should not have come in the form of Stanton’s letter; it should have come in the form of a news story.
Where were the reporters? The editors? This is campus news. From the moment the University announced it was looking for a president, the
Cougar staff should have started covering the search. A situation like the one Stanton described might not have existed if, as was done in the past, the Cougar would have been keeping the campus informed about who was being considered and why -- or would have asked the search committee why it wasn’t making that information public.
The lack of coverage cost the Cougar an important story and was a disservice to its readers. I hope the staff will take a cue from Stanton’s letter and look into whether policy was changed and how the
University plans to avoid insulting its students, faculty and staff in the future.
Former Daily Cougar Staffer Dusti Rhodes
