Student life director wants to be paid for interviews

Jorge Posadas, director of student life, said in an email Monday, if The Ranger wants to interview him, "we can set up a professional consulting contract and we can negotiate an appropriate fee."

Posadas has long demanded email exchanges with The Ranger and refused to conduct telephone or in-person interviews to provide information on the goings on of the office of student life.

Until recently, he has prohibited his staff from speaking to reporters.

The Ranger does not allow student reporters to conduct e-mail interviews except in unusual circumstances, such as military personnel serving overseas.

Posadas said the fee is for serving "as professional source on the subject of student affairs."

In his email, he refused to be interviewed "since by doing so it is in an official capacity with repercussions I am not willing to accept."

At about 12:15 p.m. Friday, he declined to speak to The Ranger on the record about his email statements and ignored questions from this reporter.

"I will talk to Dr. (Robert) Vela on this issue. I am out of the office but will be back on Monday," President Robert Zeigler wrote.

Vela, Posadas' supervisor and vice president of student affairs, did not return calls by posting time.

On Sept. 19, Posadas told a reporter he does not give interviews, and the proper procedure for obtaining an interview with him is to go through the public relations office.

He refused to explain why he would not speak about his activities in a managerial position at a public institution, and then said he would charge the reporter with harassment if attempts to speak to him continued.

Public information officer Julie Cooper said the office helps direct outside media outlets to proper sources, and Posadas may be misinterpreting policy.

An employee of a public institution bears the responsibility for providing information to the public, which the media represents.

Philosophy Professor Richard Schoenig, who has been teaching here since 1975 and almost every semester teaches an ethics course, said, "I think we owe openness to the media, especially as we are employed publicly."

He said failure to address those issues is not in the spirit of educational institutions.

"If it relates to their job, I think they have an obligation," Schoenig said.

To reach the office of student life, call 210-486-0125.