For obvious reasons I do not support the recent steps taken by some of the NSU students to protest against sudden increase of tuition fees on 10th May 2009; but to some extent I was also dis-hearted by looking at NSU administration’s advertisement on newspaper on this subject.
Comments by the university administration were published on the first page of popular newspapers on 13th May, 2009. NSU seems to have enough tuition fees coming in to fund such publicity, but it was unclear if it’s a press release. (The way this has been published, I doubt it meets any standardized requirement of press releases.) A bought out advertisement space used for mass communication of “their” thought, and not necessarily that of the press, is a fact that’s unclear to the reader. Sadly, this information is not explicitly written in any part of the article (or by the press). Although I am not assuming NSU administration is giving a wrong picture, I certainly see that they provided certain facts about the event. My next question would be, did the press try to verify the source and the authenticity of the information that was provided? The general people would barely notice the difference of press releasing an article against a certain organization. If this is practiced, anyone can start paying for spaces in newspaper and start telling their view of an incident.
The published comments seemed a bit funny half way through, as if I was reading those complain letters that kids write (and partly edited by their parents) to their teachers. While the figures provided may not have been wrong, they certainly do not provide many of the obvious facts on the story that is highly relevant and provides through understanding of how tuition fees are truly going to affect. For example, while the article provides accurate value of the amount of tuition fees increased on “per credit”, it does not mention the total amount of additional cost that will now be needed for a full load semester (12 credits) - including all additional charges, neither does it state the total amount of additional tuition fees a second semester student has to pay till s/he graduates (for the rest of the 11 semesters). The expected course load per semester is 4 (12 credits) with a suggested minimum of 3 and maximum of 5 courses depending on situations. May be, instead of complaining about what happened with vivid details, the article could thoroughly explain the tuition fees increment process and how it affects the current fees. Additionally readers don’t get to know the fact that NSU administration actually agreed not to increase the fees, and this decision was made in in the semester break to minimize any sort of time for feedback from the students.
The article gives an idea of how the NSU authority sees the university and its students as two separate entities. As if the student body does not represent the university, when these students are the most valuable asset they have. The part that made me feel more sorry was to see how the university authority itself talks about its students. The incident was not highlighted nor projected as badly by the press, as through the university’s own article. The choosing of words and facts demonstrates the sheer amount of vengeance the authority has, and it’s ability to go as public as they did, to prove a point. It’s sad to see NSU administration forgets how its world class students have helped making it “a center for excellence” over the years.
The increase of tuition fees are practiced in many universities around the world, and I must reconfirm, what some of the students did in NSU was not the right way of protesting, at least not a way of thinking by the most elite students of this country (note that, alternate souces also suggest students tried a peaceful way to protest). Nevertheless, NSU administration’s recently published comments only show the immaturity and lack of recognition of its prestigious student body, which makes others see how such a great university is fighting among itself. While the university can take legal actions, these sort of public comments certainly put the entire university into question. I was hoping for something more professional, insightful, and nobel, from the country’s most prestigious private university.