 |
| Stacy Woodruff-Bolte Ms Dowell, I write this letter attempting to balance the personal with the public or universal. I spent my four years at UE involved with WUEV, nearly from day one. Such involvement makes stepping back and viewing the prospect of WUEV's sale to a private interest objectively difficult. Regardless of my involvement at WUEV, my broader status as an alum of the University of Evansville prompts me to question the university's decision to consider selling the station and demand a more transparent process. I approached Len Clark in late August of 1996, expressing an interest in becoming involved with the radio station. I worked for the first year on a volunteer basis, learning the ropes of the News Department and becoming part of the community. During my semester at Harlaxton in the fall of 1997, I, along with Beth Nicewonger, served as the first Harlaxton Bureau correspondent. Upon returning, I spent the next two and a half years as the News Department director. I made four trips to Indianapolis for the annual Indiana Society of Professional Journalists award banquets; UE represented one of a small handful of Indiana colleges and universities with broadcast news departments serious enough to sit side-by-side with the state's broadcast and print professionals. Aside from the credentials and tangible rewards, I spent countless hours making connections with other student-employees, working through station, school and personal issues, and learning about myself. My experiences can surely be echoed in some fashion by my WUEV cohorts, as well as those who came before and after my tenure at WUEV. WUEV provided opportunities to learn, opportunities to display your work to the university and the surrounding community (and the world, for that matter, due to advances in technology), and opportunities to receive recognition for doing what you truly enjoy. Where else do opportunities of this caliber on a sustained level (with the exception of sports) come about in a university setting? WUEV connects students to the university and to the community; internal and external; communication between peers and throughout the world at large. My view of higher education may be idealistic. I see universities as the place where sacrificing efficiency for economically irrational endeavors can add value to the experience of the individual (in the present and future), the ability for professors to undertake innovative and significant research, and the campus environment, both internally and by way of external reputation. I mention the "economic irrationality" of some university undertakings since WUEV's supposed financial burden to the university was a topic of conversation at least ten years ago and likely underlies the current consideration to sell. But universities cannot simply be boiled down onto a spreadsheet of financial assets and liabilities. Providing a "The Other Side" DJ with the ability to introduce obscure bands to the play list - not to mention the band's access to an audience - produces benefits and spillovers not quantified on a balance sheet. Giving aspiring sportscasters numerous opportunities to hone their craft - as well as allowing larger audiences to keep up with Aces Athletics - provides the university with potential revenue streams and the sportscaster with skills transferable to future endeavors. Corporations often try to quantify intangibles, such as "goodwill" or "reputation" in order to assess their total value. The same principle stands here but the positive externalities produced by universities, I would argue, are more numerous and difficult to quantify. The world may be going the way of the corporatocracy, but universities represent one of the potential institutions in which students, professors, administration and the larger community can continue to create, grow, foster ideas and causes for people to believe in, and challenge the seemingly insurmountable trajectory of the world outside. When the higher cause prevails, the bottom line will be met in some way, shape or form. I consider WUEV "the higher cause" and truly believe that had extensive consultation with alumni, current students, faculty and staff, friends of the university and the Evansville community occurred, the bottom line considerations would give way to less easily quantifiable benefits produced by WUEV. I can only express my disappointment in the University's quiet decision to proceed with this bottom line endeavor without providing sufficient time to garner public comment on the potential ending of an institution. The decision is likely already made; please keep in mind, however, that my affect toward the university in my capacity as an alum has been altered negatively. Sincerely, |