LETTER: Cut admin some slack
To the editor,
In response to Brian Gladu’s letter about the administration giving inaccurate information, I must concur that it is the administration’s responsibility to make the correct information available to us. However, I tend to believe that half the time, it’s not administration officials who are delivering the incorrect information, so much as it is the “middle-man” (for lack of better terms) who often feels like he must hide the fact that he honestly doesn’t know the answer to a student’s question.
Sometimes these are college students in the Registrar’s Office or the Financial Aid Office, students who understandably don’t know everything about every university policy. Can we expect them to know everything? I don’t think so, but let’s consider possible reasons these workers might give us inaccurate or simply outdated information. One might be the pride issue, the fact that a lot of us fear looking foolish by not knowing the answer. I know I do, and I feel even worse for not being able to help the person. That’s probably part of it, but only to the extent that we are often made to feel that way by the reactions we get from people.
Think about it; how many of you students don’t get annoyed when the Registrar’s office tells you “I don’t know,” or to go to another department? I get annoyed, and I used to blame it on the “middle-man,” but that’s just unfair, isn’t it? Right now I teach, and I’ve had students confront me with questions that I simply never anticipated. Some of them have been frustrated by my inability to answer right away, while my greatest experience with that situation was when I was searching my mind for an answer, and the student simply said, “That’s okay, if you don’t know, don’t stress yourself out over it.” So that’s the message I want to express here.
To the hardworking and frazzled middle-man who sometimes doesn’t know the answer, don’t be so worried about exposing your imperfections that you give the wrong information. It’s okay to refer the person to someone who has the correct information. To the college student that’s trying to graduate and get on with his or her life, sit back and relax so that the middle-man won’t be afraid to give you an “I don’t know” answer. And if they give you the wrong information, don’t be so quick to denounce the administration, for that won’t solve your problem. Instead, step back and take a breather, then do what you can to fix the problem. I got that philosophy from a good friend who thought her tuition had been taken care of by financial aid. When her classes were dropped a couple of weeks into the semester, she gathered all her resources and found a way to pay it herself. A lot more effective than pouting about how “incompetent” the administration is.
Matt Anderson