“Here’s a question that falls under ‘How do you choose to print one article over another?'”
“Today’s Hatchet (11/03) published the article, “GW readies for accreditation process” about a steering committee that has not yet been formed, much less begun, GW’s interim self-investigation. This interim self-study report is not even due for another three years.
However, nothing at all was published about last Monday’s (10/31) Faculty Assembly meeting, welcoming new faculty along with awarding the Bender Teaching Awards, with the usual inspirational quotes from GWU’s President and EVPAA.”
The answer, quite simply, is that we already covered the Bender awards in a short article earlier this month. On Oct. 10, we published the names of the winners in a GW Brief. We also included an “inspirational quote” from Craig Linebaugh, associate vice president for academic planning and development. A follow up covering the actual event would have been redundant.
Your question about the accredation process is an interesting one, and I can understand why you think we might be covering the issue prematurely. The story certainly isn’t page one news yet — in fact, it appeared on the final news page, number 12. But I think that the accredation story is an important one. About a week ago, the Chronicle of Higher Education listed GW as the second most expensive college in America, at $36,400 a year. This news comes just a short time after GW’s ranking in U.S. News and World Report fell to 53. I always hear folks debating whether students are really getting their moneys’ worth academically at GW, so I think any story that starts to look at these quality of academic issues is worth writing about.
Also, in an article published earlier this year (Sept. 29, “Taking test gets some students early registration”) we wrote that 300 freshmen are getting priority registration as an incentive for taking tests associated with the Middle States accredidation process. I think this helps illustrate the fact that GW administration views this process very seriously — Linebaugh said the Middle States accreditation group is the “most comprehensive” of accreditation groups.
I think it’s important that readers know that both GW and an outside group are taking a serious, thorough look at the school’s academics. While we won’t be covering the process every step of the way, we will certainly be providing periodic updates.
Keep the questions coming.
