Faculty Senate approved a motion on Oct. 2 to affirm Butler University’s commitment to regular review of its administrators.

The Faculty Senate took more than two years to agree on four principles by which a tool for faculty review of administrators could be created.

Faculty Senate had to consider the language carefully, said Margaret Brabant, chair of the senate.

“This is important stuff,” Brabant said. “You’ve got to get it right because, if you don’t get it right, you can cause an enormous amount of damage.”

Such carefully-crafted language includes a principle that states, “While recognizing the confidential nature of personnel review, a method or means must be found… to ensure the transparency and accountability of the process.”

Gary Edgerton, dean of the College of Communication, said affording such transparency may necessitate access of the evaluations to everyone.

“I think, in general terms, if they’re talking about transparency, then in general terms I would think the tenor of the evaluation probably will be available to everybody in the Butler community,” Edgerton said.

Brabant said the language of this principle was included to keep administrators, such as the president, provost and Board of Trustees members, from being publicly embarrassed.

“In the situation where we might have stumbled and made a mistake, the confidential part of this is meant to help us develop, rather than put us in the stocks in front of everyone on the front lawn,” Brabant said.

Jay Howard, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said the review will need to be confidential to some degree and transparent to some degree, and finding a balance will be tricky.

Howard said he expects individual faculty members to retain their anonymity from any administrator they may be criticizing and have an opportunity to view a final report.

“I think faculty have a reasonable right to say we ought to be able to see at least some kind of executive summary that talks about strengths of the individual administrator and perhaps areas for improvement or areas where people have voiced concern,” Howard said. “And I would hope that there would be somewhere in the process as well for that administrator to respond.”

Brabant said the process would likely imitate processes from President Jim Danko’s past.

“He comes out of the business world,” Brabant said. “It’s a different kind of ethos. It’s a different kind of attitude about how you evaluate people.”

Brabant said only Danko could explain the difference between how the business and academic worlds evaluate people.

But Danko said in an email he thinks the objectives of evaluations in both worlds are consistent in their goals of assessing the quality of individuals’ performance and providing developmental insights for the person being evaluated.

“While there may be inconsistency with respect to the quality of evaluations being performed by organizations, it is not necessarily correlated to whether it is an academic or business organization,” Danko said. “I am aware of both good and bad systems in both the business and academic world.”

Danko said the dialogue with Faculty Senate has pleased him and he is interested in assuring Butler has an evaluation process that provides valuable insight for individuals to determine how well they are supporting Butler’s mission and the overall objectives of their position.

Chuck Williams, dean of the College of Business, said he already receives 360-degree evaluations from his college and echoed Howard’s sentiment that this would not be much of a change for Butler’s deans.

If he were to evaluate Danko’s tenure thus far, Williams said he really likes the president’s approach to innovation and openness to expanding Butler’s educational offerings online to reach out to students Butler wouldn’t otherwise be able to educate.

“We’ve got to make sure that we’re not left behind,” Williams said. “Butler can’t be on the sidelines and on the outside looking in.”

Faculty members will have to wait their turn to review administrators, as Brabant said the scorecard by which administrators will be judged should be created before the end of this academic year.

“We’re not inventing the first senior-level administrative evaluation tool,” Brabant said.

If and when a tool is put in place, students will likely have no understanding of exactly how it works, as Brabant said students may receive general information but not all of the details made available to the staff.

Junior Marci Kolb interviewed Paul Sandin during the previous academic year for a story she was writing for class.

She asked him what would happen to the Speakers Lab when he retired. In response, Sandin said, “The Speakers Lab is an evolving thing.”

Change is inevitable. However the sudden passing of Sandin, the previous Speakers Lab director, took many by surprise this past spring.

“Of course things are different,” said Kolb, a tutor recruiter and assistant manager of the Speakers Lab. “Professor Sandin has run the lab from the very beginning.”

However, because Sandin managed the lab using student tutors, the transition between directors has been  smooth.

“When Mr. Sandin left, of course, he left abruptly,” new director Kristen Hoerl said. “The tutors, however, have done a remarkable job of keeping everything together and holding the fort down through the transition.”

Hoerl has previous experience that applies to her new role.

Hoerl earned her doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin, graduating with a degree in communication studies. She also worked at the university as a writing consultant at a center with a similar structure to Butler’s Writers’ Studio and Speakers Lab.

Before coming to Butler, Hoerl was the director of the Public Speaking Center at Auburn University. There, she trained both masters and graduate students to teach public speaking courses across the university.

Student tutors and Hoerl have worked together to make changes in how the staff operates.

“The lab is still student-run,” Kolb said, “but we’ve been going to classes to teach about what the Speakers Lab is. There are both new students and professors, so many don’t know what the lab is and what it does.”

One of the newest public speaking professors said the Speakers Lab is a fantastic resource for students and thinks its feedback will only help make speeches stronger.

“In all of my previous institutions where I have worked, I have never had this kind of resource support for my students,” said Erin Ortiz, assistant professor with the organizational communication and leadership program. “I am looking forward to using it this semester.”

Student tutors are proficient in understanding both content and delivery, Hoerl said, and they know what to listen for when helping a student prepare a speech. They provide detailed comments and suggestions before a student delivers a speech in class.

“We have some expertly-trained students here who can provide guidance and feedback in a really useful, casual atmosphere,” Hoerl said.

Student tutors serve as a great representation of the audience that the students will be speaking to in class, Ortiz said. The students are targeting their key audience by organizing and practicing their speeches with the tutors instead of professors.

“The tutor gave me very constructive criticism, and I found the lab to be very useful,” sophomore Billy Krawzak said. He used the lab while taking Freshman Business Experience.

The Speakers Lab primarily serves students in both the College of Communication and the College of Business, Hoerl said. However, Hoerl would like the lab to become a resource for students across the university as well.

“I would like more students to know about the role of communication and public speaking and the value it can have for them,” Hoerl said. “Even if they don’t see themselves in a career that immediately uses public speaking, this will probably be a part of everybody’s career.”

Because of the legacy Sandin left behind, Kolb and others think the Speakers Lab will only grow from here.

“Things are not going to be the same,” Kolb said. “However, with a bigger staff and strong leadership, I only see the Speakers Lab getting stronger.”

Classes at Butler University have been in session for a week, and some students still have one thing on their minds: getting textbooks.

The bookstore has given students stress stemming from not having books in stock, accidentally canceling orders or ordering the wrong books.

Not only did many students get their books at the same time, but the bookstore was also faced with serving the largest freshman class. These two factors combined have kept the bookstore busy for the beginning of the school year.

What many are not seeing, however, is the bookstore’s effort to fix any miscommunications students are being faced with.

“They did a great job of helping me return the books that my professor said we didn’t need,” sophomore Abbie Liebl said.

Liebl said half of her books for a class were optional, but the bookstore never notified her about this. The bookstore gave her a full refund after being told by her professor she didn’t need them.

Another issue students are facing is books being out of stock, even when they were ordered in advance. Sophomore Rithvi Melanta ordered a book a week before school started so she would have it in time for class.

“I got a confirmation saying it was in, so I went to the bookstore on the first day, and it wasn’t in stock,” Melanta said. “I went there the next day, and it still hadn’t come in.”

The bookstore, however, made sure to notify Melanta’s professor that the books hadn’t come in to ensure students wouldn’t fall behind on homework.

Another case happened with EN-101, a writing tutorial course.  There are four sections of this class, all taught by different professors. Each section uses a different textbook.

“One book was ordered for all four sections,” said Jim Hanna, an EN-101 adjunct professor. “It was a hassle for students because they ended up paying more, but the bookstore overnighted the correct books and worked well with the department head to fix the problem.”

College of Communication adjunct professor Glenn Carlstrand had a similar problem in which there was a mistake with what book was ordered for a sign language course.

“The bookstore was very cooperative in getting (the problem) corrected,” Carlstrand said. “I have no problem with them, and I don’t want to complain. They were very nice about it.”

Melanie Albaum, a sophomore taking this course, said that the bookstore told her to get a level-two textbook when, in actuality, the class called for level three.

“All of our homework is from the book, and since it hasn’t come in yet, I can’t start my work,” Albaum said. “I understand, though, because the bookstore is doing the best they can.”

Carlstrand said the problem was quickly corrected, and the students should have the right book this week.

Bookstore employees and managers were asked to comment; however, none responded in time for this issue.

The dean of the College of Communication said internships will still be a part of the student experience, despite last year’s internship coordinator’s position cut.

“There never was a question that internships would go away or that there would even be a diminishing of an internship program in the College of Communication,” CCOM Dean Gary Edgerton said.

CCOM lost its internship coordinator at the end of the spring 2012 academic semester.

Ed Kanis, an instructor in the strategic communication program of CCOM, worked as the first point of contact for CCOM students looking for internships.

The loss of the internship coordinator position worried CCOM students, who depend on real-world experience of internships for their future careers.

“I was a little worried because I still feel like I need guidance in that area,” Shelby Long, senior communication studies major, said.

During her time at Butler, Long has worked a marketing internship at Huntington Bank and a news reporting internship with WISH-TV in Indianapolis.

She discovered both opportunities through Kanis.

“I feel like I’ve gotten a taste of the real world,” Long said.  “It’s encouraged me to look for further opportunities for networking.  I made a lot of good connections through my internships.”

In response to student concerns, Gary Edgerton, dean of CCOM, said he understands the value of internships.

“Communication and its various specialty areas lend themselves to internships,” Edgerton said.

Nancy Whitmore, director of the journalism program, said in an email that internships would now be handled by the program directors of the six program areas in CCOM.

These areas are communication sciences and disorders; creative media and entertainment; journalism; media, rhetoric and culture; organizational communication and leadership; and strategic communications.

This is similar to how the internship program ran prior to June 2010.

“Whatever helps students get into the real world through internships is good,” Long said.  “I’m glad the directors are helping.”

From increasing the number of local and regional internships to looking at possible international opportunities, the college is hoping to expand internship opportunities for CCOM students in the near future.

The college is currently working to solicit ideas and make plans for an improved format to the internship program for the spring semester.

Last year, 59 CCOM students had internships.  Edgerton hopes to see that number eventually hit 100 per year.

“The number of internships that are relevant for communication students is really vast,” Edgerton said.  “We hope to make all those opportunities available to our students.”

Long said she would like to see this growth in the future even though she graduates in December.

“It’s hard to tell the future because I graduate early, but I just hope that if I were to come back, maybe in May, I’d see growth in that area,” Long said. “Students can be assured that the internship program has continued,” Edgerton said.  “It is still strong and healthy.  In the future it will grow to become more ambitious.  That’s what we’re working toward.”

Butler University and the College of Communication are calling for all sharp-tongued students with a knack for public speaking to come check out the newly resurrected debate team.

The team has a legacy of competition across the Midwest, and each year Butler students are presented with the opportunity to become a part of this tradition.

Professor Casey Ryan Kelly, director of debate, said the debate team consists of Butler students from a wide range of academic fields.

Each member will participate in either on-campus or off-campus events.

On-campus events are directed toward students eager to jump-start their involvement on the debate team, Kelly said.

Students interested in joining the team can attend regular weekly meetings to practice debate and help promote the team around campus.

Kelly said off-campus events require the participation of more avid student debaters.

The debate team travels with the speech team to a handful of regional competitions throughout the year.

Students interested in competitive debate partner with one other student from the Butler team, and together they work to practice rhetoric skills in anticipation of future tournaments.

Each two-person team plans its speech with the help of Kelly and other peer members.

Kelly said Ellie Pierce, assistant debate and speech coach, is also available to assist students in their debate preparation.

Kelly said that the Butler debate team only attends parliamentary debate competitions.

As opposed to a normal policy debate, a parliamentary debate is more heavily invested in rules and points of procedure, and the speech topic changes from debate to debate.  Students receive the topic a half-hour before they compete.

Kelly said competitive debate instills research and reasoning skills in students that will be crucial in the future.

“It builds the ability to think critically and interpret an argument,” Kelly said. “Those things have been useful in my own professional life, and it is a lifelong professional and personal skill.”

College of Communication Dean Gary Edgerton said he recognizes the importance of the debate team at Butler.

“Members learn oral speaking skills and the ability to get up on their feet and construct a coherent argument and express themselves,” Edgerton said. “While it’s a fun pursuit, it’s also academic and personally helpful.”

Edgerton said he feels positive that the debate team will establish a professional identity on campus this year and set good footing for the future.

“This year is about identifying some talented and interested students and mentoring them,” Edgerton said. “It’s to let people know that a functioning debate team does in fact exist at Butler.”

The first debate team call-out meeting occurred on Monday, but interested students can contact Kelly at crkelly@butler.edu for more information.

Butler University’s student media organizations will merge as part of an expanded, multi-platform enterprise set for launch this fall, College of Communication faculty announced.

New ventures include an internet radio station, increased television coverage through Collegian TV and enhanced output in commercial videos from Deep Blue Productions.

The media group, which has yet to be named, will be independently run.  All positions will be paid, and students from all colleges will be eligible to apply.

The aim, creators said, is to prepare students for successful careers in media while simultaneously improving campus news and entertainment.

“When students have the tools and the freedom, they do some fantastic things,” said Nancy Whitmore, an associate professor in CCOM and Eugene S. Pulliam School of Journalism director.

Whitmore, along with professor Kenneth Creech, first conceived the idea of an upgraded, umbrella structure nearly two years ago when CCOM formed.

“It’s the right move,” Creech said.  “We felt what was missing was that component that allows students all across the college to really draw on the talents of one another.”

Content will be produced in cooperative fashion and labeled with a common brand and packaging.

Whitmore said the media group will help CCOM recruit and give students an edge in the job market.

Shelby Seibring, a sophomore journalism and strategic communication major who works on “The Butler Beat,” a weekly news show, said she is excited by the media group.

“It’s nice if you can integrate writing and TV, because a bunch of broadcasting is going online,” Seibring said. “It’ll be nice to get experience in both.”

Craig Pinkus, a member of the CCOM Board of Visitors that advised Whitmore and Creech, said the move ends historical isolation between student media and makes the college more attractive to prospective students.

“Kids in high school are going to be highly dependent on steering,” Pinkus said. “Communicating this integrated approach should mean a lot to counselors.”

Interim CCOM Dean Bill Neher approved the proposal last spring.  Then-Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Jamie Comstock and Vice President for University Advancement Mark Helmus signed off in October.

Comstock suggested that the university create the radio station. Butler once had a traditional station, WAJC, which folded in the 1990s.

Creech said the new station will be based online to follow modern trends. CCOM purchased equipment to allow streaming of sporting events and perhaps performing arts shows.

Butler also used to maintain a television station, WTBU, in the former department of radio and television that existed within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

“Those were great venues for the students,” Creech said. “We hear from graduates how valuable those experiences really were.  It’s that ‘learning while doing’ that we felt was just not where it ought to be.”

The college is set to invest in new equipment, new cameras and a television adviser to renew its commitment to TV, Whitmore
said.

IndyBlue Records and Publishing, an existing student group, also will receive a shot in the arm under the new enterprise and will produce records for people in the greater Butler community.

Whitmore said the undertakings will teach students things they can’t learn in a classroom.

“As hard as we try and as close as we get, we can’t replicate running a newsroom, a budget, selling advertising, taking criticism, taking praise, handling manipulations,” she said. “The stakes are always so much higher when you really publish rather than hand in a paper for a class.”

Seibring said that will look good on a résumé.

“When you’re in an interview, you can say you have all those experiences,” she said.

Plans for professional workshops are included in the media group’s formation.

“Curriculum revisions are slow,” Whitmore said. “Media changes quickly.”

Creech said the organization is self-financing because all the components either charge for output or sell advertising.

“We’re hoping we can make a substantial amount that will defray most of the costs,” Whitmore
said.

The official name has been withheld, Whitmore said, in order to use the rights for fundraising.

INSIDE THE NEW
MEDIA GROUP

-The Butler Collegian
Print, Web & CollegianTV
-Deep Blue Productions
-IndyBlue Records and Publishing
-Internet Radio Station (New)

Although many people fear change, Gary Edgerton, the new College of Communication dean, brings change that I can believe in.

Edgerton comes from Old Dominion and brings many things to the table that could take CCOM to the next level.

His experience is the first thing that jumps out at me.

According to his website, Edgerton has published 10 books and more than 75 essays and was co-editor of the “Journal of Popular Film and Television.”

As impressive as this is, I expect Edgerton to bring even more.

Interim CCOM Dean William Neher said one of the reasons Edgerton was interested in coming here was because “he sees a great deal of potential.”

With a school newspaper that is nationally recognized and an academic environment that is competitive, the potential is tremendous.

The advancement of student organized media outlets should be one of Edgerton’s top priorities.

He should use his experience to take our programs to the next level.

With that said he should offer advice from a distance because one of the greatest parts about our media productions is that they are student-run.

As a journalism student I want to see the new dean expand the school beyond Midwest recognition.

Coming with a diverse background and from a school on the East Coast, Edgerton should use his resources to make Butler CCOM graduates known all over the country.

I enjoy being in a major where the education constantly improves each year.

I want to see Edgerton continue this upward trend of excellence and take CCOM to the next level.

In a more immediate time frame, I expect Edgerton to make CCOM even more competitive with other colleges on campus.

Using cross-collaboration initiatives and growing and expanding upon majors will help diversify and improve the quality of CCOM majors.

Fifty percent of jobs today have a significant communication aspect, Edgerton said.

The cross-collaboration initiatives will not only improve the curriculum but also better prepare students for the real world.

When people talk about the top colleges on campus, CCOM should be one of the first that people think of.

I want to see Edgerton capitalize on all of the potential and resources so that CCOM can reach a new level.

The College of Communication will add a new major, to be available next fall.

Margaretha Geertsema Sligh, the interim program director, said she and other faculty members are taking courses in Critical Media Studies and Rhetoric, combining them for the Media, Rhetoric and Culture major.

“We want students to learn about arguments made, the production of meaning through media and social justice, especially where it intersects where media and social justice meet,” Geertsema Sligh said.

This major has been approved by the College of Communication Curriculum Committee and is pending approval from the university.

The courses are mainly theory-based and argumentation is used to promote certain cases.

“We’re really excited about this course,” Geertsema Sligh said. “Each class will be different with each professor, and it will help fulfill the Indianapolis Community Requirement.”

Each student must then pick four of 12 electives offered to fulfill requirements.

According to the major proposal, “This major and minor will situate the MRC program, and CCOM generally, at the cutting edge of communication programs by bringing together two complimentary areas of study within the field of communication.”

Geertsema Sligh said the new major shows synergy in the college.

“Usually critical media studies and rhetoric are separate studies; it’s very rare to see them both together,” she said. “We are cross-pollinating these topics and infusing them together.”

Ann Savage, another faculty member working on the major, said it will prepare students well for life after Butler.

“The Media, Rhetoric and Culture major really prepares students for the working world, as well as graduate school,” she said.

Savage also said that this major works well with other majors.

“The College of Communication is not a professional college,” Savage said. “We are quite unique, with a mixture of all majors, such as the humanities and the social sciences.”

Other faculty members who are working with the major are Allison Harthcock,  Kristin Swenson, Kristen Hoerl, Casey Kelly and David Waite.

“It’s a high quality major,” Savage said. “It’s also a great compliment to other majors.”

Even visitors to the college are interested in the major.

“When the Board of Visitors visited, one of them was really excited about this major because it blends other majors together perfectly,” Savage said.

As scheduling for next semester gets closer, the Media, Rhetoric and Culture faculty hope students will be as interested as they are.

“This new College of Communication made this new major,” Geertsema Sligh said. “We can’t wait for next semester, and we have already gained a few inquiries, so they will be enrolled as soon as we get this major approved from the university.”

Strategic communication students will not experience any changes in graduation requirements despite changes in course offerings for the spring semester.

Strategic communications program director Mark Rademacher held a town hall meeting to answer questions students asked about potential requirement changes on Thursday in Gallahue Hall.

Strategic communications encompasses public relations and advertising programs. The class cuts that the strategic communications program experienced caused some students to wonder what that meant for them and their degree.

“For those of you in the program, nothing has changed,” Rademacher said. “The requirements are the same. Your degree is still the same.

“The requirements you came into the program under are the requirements you need to graduate.”

One class that was cut, a section of Special Topics in Public Relations, was a course that taught students how to build and create their portfolios.

The students present at the meeting expressed concern over the loss of the course.

“From my intern experience, having a portfolio is extremely important and that class was one of the few offered at Butler to help me learn how to create a creative design portfolio, so I wouldn’t have felt comfortable without that course,” senior strategic communications major Jonathan Spear said. “We keep talking about trying to boost this college and this program, but to me, I don’t think we have the courses to back it up.”

Rademacher explained that the decision to cut the course was something unavoidable because of staffing and other resources.

“We’re hoping to bring it back,” Rademacher said. “I wish we could have avoided it, but as a non-required class, it was one that wasn’t able to be offered this spring.”

It would have been impossible to keep all of the courses with the resources available to the program, professor Ed Kanis said.

“We’ve tried to implement a lot of things with essentially the same resources,” Kanis said. “It’s like living in the same house and deciding you want a bigger house, but you don’t have the money for a bigger house. It just doesn’t work.”

As far as removing the major from the journalism program, Rademacher assured students that they have no reason to worry.

“Strategic communications will still be strongly based around the methods and background of journalism,” Rademacher said. “We’ve just moved out from underneath the journalism school umbrella.”

Communication has been crucial to the development of the College of Communication, Rademacher said, and the staff is committed to continue the exchange of ideas as the college continues to grow.

“This isn’t one person’s vision,” Rademacher said. “It’s a collaborative effort. I’m just here to make sure we go ahead in the direction that we had agreed upon. This is our first attempt to start a dialog and to develop a program that benefits everyone.”

Spear said he wasn’t convinced.

“We asked for this college and we’ve been told ‘it’s coming, it’s here,’” Spear said. “We just don’t know what exactly is coming.”

Rademacher told students that they should not feel held back by the courses and internships the college offers.

“Don’t feel limited by what we have done,” Rademacher said. “Go make leaps. Show them what Butler students are and what they can do. Push us to push you.”

The head of a student organization filed a complaint with the Council on Presidential Affairs about the College of Communication after several posters promoting a speaker were removed from the Fairbanks Center.

Senior Jonathan Spear, president of ADrenaline, Butler University’s advertising club, said he felt his club’s free speech rights were being violated by the administration of the CCOM.

“What makes them think that they have the right to tell me I can’t have someone speak to my club?” Spear said.

On Monday, Oct. 4, Spear hung five posters around the Fairbanks Center, promoting a speaker from the Miami Ad School. Katie Lever, admissions advisor at Miami, was scheduled to speak on Wednesday, Oct. 6, about what the field of advertising is like today and the skills it requires of professional practitioners and graduate level programs that the school offers.

They were still up when he left class Monday evening. When he returned to Fairbanks for a class Tuesday afternoon, the posters were missing.

“As soon as I noticed the posters were missing, I called [ADrenaline adviser Donna Gray],” Spear said. “She told me the dean and associate dean had expressed concerns and thought that it was not appropriate that Katie came and spoke.”

Gray, a CCOM instructor, met with both Interim Dean Bill Neher and Associate Dean Ann Savage to discuss their concerns.

“They were concerned that it was a conflict of interest for that particular speaker to come speak to our students,” she said.

As to the specific concerns, there seems to be a lack of consensus within the CCOM faculty.
Savage said she was concerned about a conflict of interest and having a for-profit institution promote its program on Butler’s nonprofit space.

Savage said that no one in the dean’s office knew anything about the program, so she took one poster down to learn more about the school.

A message had been sent over the Butler Connection and the strategic communication listserv in the days prior.

Mark Rademacher, strategic communication program director, said he also questioned the suitability of this speaker on campus.

“The concern I might have is that we value what a well-rounded liberal arts education can provide, so if a program doesn’t deliver that well-rounded education experience is that it offers one set of skills but maybe not the entire picture,” Rademacher said.

Neher, who was part of the meetings with Savage and Gray and Spear, said he was unaware of any conflict of interest concerns.

“We have no mechanism to do that, there is no way for us to prevent the person from speaking,” Neher said. “I’m a radical when it comes to free speech.”

Spear said he remembers their conversation differently.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “I stood in a room with [Neher] and [Savage] and talked specifically about the issues they had with the speaker, one of which was the conflict of interest.”

Whether or not the speaker was a conflict of interest, recognized student organizations, including ADrenaline, are governed by the Student Government Association and the Programs for Leadership and Service Education office. The PuLSE handbook states that, “A balance of free speech and community standards will be enforced by the PuLSE office.”

“We ask that the campus community does not go around removing fliers,” Julie Pakenham, associate director of PuLSE, said. “We respect free speech. We want to create a balance of free speech, not just in the fliers but also in the programming that goes on.”

Spear acknowledged that while his posters were stamped by the PuLSE office, he forgot to include ADrenaline’s name in the posting, as is required by the PuLSE office posting policy.

“When I went to the PuLSE office and had the posters stamped, I was told I needed to put ADrenaline on them,” Spear said. “But I went straight to lunch and work and forgot.”

Some of the posters were also posted on windows and painted walls, which violates PuLSE posting policies.

But why, then, weren’t the posters removed and given back to the organization to correct?

Neher said it is likely because they didn’t know to whom the posters belonged. He said he doesn’t know who took them down, but it was probably because they were improperly hung up.

Both Savage and Neher also said they were unaware who was sponsoring the event until Gray spoke to them around 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 5, because the sponsoring group wasn’t on the poster and a room hadn’t been reserved.

But Caroline Huck-Watson, PuLSE director, told Savage at 1 p.m. via email that ADrenaline was putting on the event. It was then that Savage contacted Gray with her concerns, saying that she and Neher had concerns about a conflict of interest between the Miami Ad School and programs offered in the CCOM.

Ultimately, the varied concerns did not stop Lever from speaking to a group of about 10 students. But, Spear said he did not feel better and lodged the complaint with CPA.

“I don’t see why there would be any reason at all for a professor to be apprehensive, worried or threatened for a professional coming to speak to students about how to better their education and further their career,” he said. “As professors and faculty I think it’s their job to want what’s best for us. After our conversations, I’m wondering if some of the people in this building do.”