On September 10, 2015 in Indianapolis, media exploded with controversy over the replacement of former Butler University student newspaper adviser, Loni McKown, with Marc Allan. Allan currently works in the public relations department at Butler University, where he would have continued to work while he took the new role of adviser for the Butler Collegian. Naturally, critics everywhere responded with comments on how Butler was prohibiting the First Amendment rights to free press and speech for students. Students, faculty and the public felt the University hired Allan to continue to protect the image of Butler, and restrict what the students would publish to the public.
Allan argued this, saying that while he can understand the concern, he would never restrict what the students would publish. He told us, "If the university messes up, then the kids should call them on it."
Well, just as Allan said, the "kids" did just that. The Butler Collegian reported two days ago that Allan would no longer be the adviser. The director of the Eugene S. Pullman School of Journalism, Nancy Whitmore, will be the adviser for the time being. Whitmore was in charge of hiring Allan, along with the Dean of the College of Communication, Greg Edgerton. A full time managing adviser has not been selected yet.
McKown was the adviser of the Collegian for five years. Her role as adviser came to an abrupt end when she was quickly replaced by Allan last week. While Allan is more than qualified to take her place, as he was a reporter for 24 years, and the Collegian would have been fortunate to have him, we can’t help but wonder why this change came about. When we reached out for more information about the reasons behind the replacement of McKown from Whitmore, Edgerton and McKown all were unavailable. No answers were given.
Lots of questions and rumors are still flying, as no one is sure what really caused all of this "replacing" of advisers. One thing is true, this is not the first time the University has been less than transparent with the students and faculty. While it is understandable that some information must stay confidential, it still seems Butler administration is losing trust with their students, and possibly faculty. The University's decisions to remove, what seems like, as many fraternities as possible with limited information given to the public, is one reason students are frustrated with the University. The lack of transparency showed again last week after Assistant Butler Police Chief, Andrew Ryan, was arrested for a DUI, and nothing was sent to students or faculty about the incident. Reportedly, when another officer was sent in to cover the self defense class Ryan taught, the officer told students that Ryan was "not feeling well," and he would not be in class for a while. Again, questions were left unanswered by the administration. Maybe Allan had something to do with the PR decision to keep this from university students and faculty?
Butler is a university that takes pride in being an innovative institution, as they just were awarded the title of the "Most Innovative School" in the Midwest. If students have the right to be innovative and learn from mistakes, shouldn't faculty as well? Butler has taught us, as students, to experience life and put yourself out there. Who does that more than a reporter? Nobody knows exactly what happened between Loni and the University, but if she was removed for simply practicing her freedom of speech or encouraging others to do so, that is not right.
Professor Watts (above) is right. Whether it is this week or the next, news will continue to break about this story and more will be uncovered. When it does, someone better be ready to cover it.
