RAs punished after University Star opinion column published

By Blake Leschber Assistant News Editor

On Oct. 7, The University Star published a column about overpopulation on campus and its effects. In the column, the writer interviewed three resident assistants (RAs) to discuss the topic. After the article was published, the RAs were punished for talking to the media with written warnings. On Jan. 13, the warnings were removed from the RAs' accounts.

According to UPPS 06.05.02, Texas State employees are required to contact either their supervisor, the director of the Office of Media Relations or the assistant vice president for University Advancement Communications before talking to the media. Since the RAs did not follow this policy, they were given a written warning on their accounts.

One of the RAs, who has chosen to remain anonymous, said that they were not notified of this policy in their training and that this warning could have had possible dire effects on their employee accounts.

"During training, there wasn't really any mention of [the policy] from anyone," the RA said. "In the case of this interview, if my name were to be mentioned, that would be probation if there was somebody else that had a write-up, then they could be terminated at that point."

Sandy Pantlik, vice president for marketing and communications, said that the consequences for employees who do not follow the media policy are decided by the employee's supervisor.

"The consequences of not following a university policy are handled in accordance with the appropriate process, as determined by the status of the employee and policy concerned," Pantlik told The Star in a written interview. "Generally, if a disciplinary action is deemed appropriate, that is made at the discretion of the employee's supervisor."

After attending mandatory meetings and having reports put on their files, the RAs turned to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). FIRE is an organization that helps people who believe that their First Amendment rights were violated. They primarily but not exclusively work with college students and campuses. The organization worked with the RAs to try to get the warnings removed from their accounts.