UNC administration needs to come clean

The University of Northern Colorado administration's recent publication of the persona non grata (person not wanted) database was, as many have realized, a terrible mistake that reflects poorly on the leadership of this university.

After the Virginia Tech massacre last month, colleges across the country attempted to demonstrate their responses to this horrible tragedy. Unfortunately, the administration here decided to engage in a knee jerk reaction that was incompetently executed and reflected poor judgement.

When the university published the database, they associated it with their response to a massacre such as what was seen on April 16. They, unfortunately, didn't think this action through, as typical of any bureaucratic institution that forgets they are accountable to taxpayers.

When the list was released the only individual on it that the majority of the students would recognize was Mitch Cozad, our infamous former back-up punter. As the other individuals on the list are not as widely known, a reasonable person would be led to the assumption that they must be on the list for similar reasons. As has been reported in the media, this is not the case.

However, instead of addressing the concerns raised about the list, the administration has instead hid behind secrecy and not been open with the public. President Kay Norton's response issued last Wednesday did not even begin to address the concerns raised, yet somehow acted as if it did.

A major issue raised is that if we are to take this list seriously, we want to know why people are on the list. If privacy laws prevent this information, say so and let us know about the privacy laws. The administration should not simply say, "…we do not and will not talk about individuals who receive persona non grata orders."

Why are we supposed to trust the administration on this issue if they are not open with us?

If privacy laws do indeed prevent the release of information we ask for, then this list should never have been made open to the public in the first place. I, and assumedly many others, do not take the list seriously.

The administration needs to either actually clear up questions regarding the list - and not through some worthless press release that answers nothing - or remove the list from public and apologize for releasing it in the first place.

As it stands, this action by the administration is simply unacceptable. The administration here is accountable to the public; they need to remember that.

- Aanston Frazier, a former Marine Corps intelligence analyst, is a sophomore economics and political science major and a Mirror columnist.