Dear reader,

The role of student media on campus is to cover not only campus events, campus news, and other important student issues but also stories that impact the communities around us. 

Over the years, the University Times has reached out to faculty, staff, and student workers on-campus to get input on our stories. At least several times each semester, we are turned away from the individual because they’re afraid of losing their job if they speak up.

However, under the Cal State LA Administrative Procedure, “the Faculty and Staff are encouraged to respond to media inquiries involving their areas of expertise in order that the University may be seen as a valuable resource of knowledge and research.”

The procedure states that faculty, administrators, and staff are citizens and also representatives of the institution: “When speaking or writing as citizens, they should be free from censorship but should recognize that the public may judge their profession and/or the university by their utterances.”

Faculty and staff should respond to media inquiries involving their individual areas of expertise, but not on the university’s behalf, only for themselves, according to the procedure. 

The University Times feels the need to share this with our audience to inform them of their rights on campus as faculty, staff, and student employees.