Editorial: Editors urge OCU to improve communication with students

On the night of Feb. 15, a pipe on the fourth floor in United Methodist Hall burst, flooding the hallways and over 30 dorm rooms on the first floor.

To read more about the Methodist Hall flooding, read our full story here.

Students were evacuated from the building and waited outside while maintenance worked to resolve the issue. Students were later let back inside, and students whose rooms were flooded were told to go back inside to grab what they needed and find somewhere else to stay for the night.

Classes were not cancelled for the next day until around noon, despite many students being displaced in the middle of the night. Many students reported that their professors had no idea about the incident until told by their students.

The lack of communication from the university to their students and faculty in situations such as these is unacceptable. In times of crisis where students and professors need to know what to prepare for, a lack of response from the university can only make matters worse, especially during a pandemic and a once in a lifetime winter storm.

Even if the university doesn’t have all the answers immediately in a situation like this, they should still send out an update of what happened to the rest of the university so professors can plan their classes accordingly and other students can help where they can. Then, once the university has more information to work with, they can send an update so the campus community can be on the same page. Students networking to make sure everyone had a place to stay was admirable and is a testament to our community, but it shouldn’t be the students’ job to coordinate themselves during a time of crisis.

Finally, the lack of communication weakens the trust the campus community has for the systems put in place to protect us. While what happened during that week was a once in a lifetime situation, the university fell short of the standards students expect from them and the trust students have for the university to help them through times of crisis and communicate with them.