Letter to the editor: I feel that the Setonian 'dropped the ball'

Dear Editor,

On Thursday March 14, the SHU Speaks Committee of Student Ac­tivities Board hosted Baltimore Orioles all-star and Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. in the Main Lounge. The former short­stop spoke to a sold out audience of over 400 students, administra­tors, faculty, community mem­bers, and distinguished guests through a speech entitled "The Keys to Perseverance."

Throughout the presentation, Ripken told anecdotes from his baseball career that included mo­ments such as phone calls with Alex Rodriguez and playing in a game the same day that his son was born.

When the presentation was of­ficially over, Ripken unexpectedly stayed in the Main Lounge for an additional twenty minutes to sign autographs and take photos with students. The event was not only highly attended but enjoyed by all.

Unfortunately, this letter is the first time this event has ever been mentioned in the Setonian. This is extremely disappointing because the event was almost entirely paid for by the student activities fee, a part of tuition that is specifically allocated for the funding of cam­pus activities such as SAB events. Considering the fact that Seton Hall comes with a hefty price tag, our students deserve to know what their money is being spent on. If one were to type "Cal Ripken Jr." into the Setonian website, not a single article or photograph would appear.

It is as if he was never even at SHU, let alone one of the biggest SAB events of the year. It came to my attention after communica­tion with the Setonian that there was some sort of technical error in posting a story online that they wrote after the event. However, this does not make up for the nu­merous instances in which they were reached out to about cover­age prior to the event, and requests were acknowledged and then ig­nored.

As a Peer Adviser, I frequently tell my students and their families about the Setonian and encourage them to pick up a copy. There are numerous instances in which the Setonian has done quality report­ing on SAB events, so I recognize that they are highly capable of producing a good campus news­paper.

I have no background in newspa­per production and therefore can­not speak on any type of experi­ence. I am however entitled to my opinion that in this instance, the Setonian failed our campus as a publication.

Respectfully,

Moira Kelly, Chair of SHU Speaks Committee, Student Activi­ties Board