KTRU in Hindsight

By Staff Editorial     8/26/10 7:00pm

As detailed information about the sale of KTRU to the University of Houston continues to be disseminated throughout the student body, many groups are taking steps to determine the immediate future of the organization (see story, page 1). Alumni, KTRU disc jockeys and members of the greater student body are taking action to keep the deal from going through, while the administration tries to ameliorate the situation through discussions with KTRU about its future online operations. We at the Thresher believe that both attempts are simply too little, too late.First, it should be noted that President David Leebron personally met with KTRU officials in an attempt to explain the decision made by the Board of Trustees. Though KTRU affiliates may not have come away with satisfactory answers as to how the university put a price tag on their lives, President Leebron's outstretched arm is a welcomed sign.

However, the appearance of damage control cannot be avoided. There was never any doubt in the student body's mind that President Leebron and the Board of Trustees cared about public support. The real issue was that students were not held in high enough regard to be given crucial information or any medium to express their opinions before a permanent change was made to Rice University.

More so, Vice President of Public Affairs Linda Thrane's continued insistance that KTRU will survive and flourish online continues to be an offensive incursion into the group's future plans; it simply is not her place to make that decision. The poor timing of a Tweet posted from her account discussing how older people are wiser than "young folks" further alienated the administration from the students, mimicking the thought process of a parent making choices for an ignorant child.

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While the Thresher will continue to take a resolute stance against the exclusion of student input from any major decision regarding the future of a student organization, we recognize that the administration was in a difficult position, thanks in part to the actions of the student body itself. When the Thresher sat down with President Leebron this week to discuss the sale, he cited the students' unwillingness to pass KTRU's blanket tax request in last year's election as a sign of students' general disinterest in the station. If the students were unwilling to contribute $2 apiece to support KTRU, the organization must have had very limited value to the student body.

In many ways, the administration had an accurate reading of the student body's pulse. Despite the reactionary fervor with which this decision was met, the fact remains that most students simply did not care about this student group until it was sold off to another university. This is an unfortunate reminder that internal support of student organizations makes a huge difference, while apathy relinquishes decision making to someone else. Tragically, the protests and cries of the students will not keep the deal from happening and are also simply too little, too late.

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