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This is the question several students faced when voting on the publication-distribution policy for their dorms during the second week of fall quarter. However, confusion ensued when the poll for this policy was re-opened a couple weeks later without official notification. Due to lack of knowledge of flipped policies, many dorm residents were dismayed to find publications once again sitting in front of their doors.
“I got an email saying that they were voting again, and I was confused as to if my previous vote was counted or if I was supposed to vote again,” said freshman James Hilton, who lives in Branner.
Director of Residential Education Jane Camarillo explained that the revote happened for one of two reasons: either the vote for the distribution policy was tied or the dorm had only cast between one and five votes.
“We contacted houses with these small numbers and asked if they had used the on-line voting tool and some had not,” Camarillo said. “Others were surprised at the low turnout and felt it was due to the publicity.”
Branner, one of such dorms, was originally designated as having a centralized distribution policy. Centralized distribution calls for publications to be placed in the racks in the lobby of each dorm, whereas door-to-door distribution allows for various publications to be delivered directly to residents’ rooms.
But with the polls reopened, Branner and others have been switched to a door-to-door policy — to the surprise of many residents. Despite efforts to publicize this voting schedule through residential mailing lists, an ASSU e-flyer, word of mouth and visits of some editorial staffs to house meetings, several dorms seemed to have missed the message.
With the bulk of residents under the impression that the centralized distribution policy was still in place, the off-campus pamphlets from the Christian Association PAX sitting underneath their doors caused some residents confusion and annoyance.
“That kind of pissed me off waking up,” said freshman Cameron Drake, complaining about the violation of their original policy. “I just woke up and was like, ‘Who slid stuff that I don’t care about under my door?’ We are not going to read it, so we have to throw it away and fill up our garbage can. It doesn’t give you a choice.”
Some students see door-to-door distribution as burdensome as it forces them to deal with unwanted publications.
“I thought getting the pamphlets in my door was a nuisance,” Hilton said. “If there was something specific that I wanted, I can just walk down and get it. That way I feel like I’m not wasting it, because those that don’t want it will just throw it out.”
Toyon and Otero face similar concerns with their distribution policy. In Toyon, The Stanford Review delivered its papers to individual dorm rooms while the distribution policy was still centralized. Although Resident Assistants (RAs) found the situation frustrating, some residents didn’t seem to mind the door-to-door technique.
“I think it’s fine,” said senior Vanessa Guizman. “I would not make the effort to go get it if it was centralized.”
Yet the unresolved problem left redundant RAs and many residents clueless to this second polling and subsequent status changes.
Branner RA Hershey Avula, a junior and ASSU senator, found the situation irritating and demanded clarification.
“For me, it is kind of frustrating,” Avula said. “There is a lack of communication as to what the results are because there was a set of results originally that the staff had looked at, and now there is a new set of results. And it’s just confusion and it should be resolved by winter quarter.”
The current distribution protocol was determined this past summer by the Publications Distribution Group. The group plans to re-evaluate its current system in May for improvements. On the top of the pile of fixes lies increased publicity to preclude any more confusion.
“Of course, we plan to increase the publicity of the voting schedule next year,” said Camarillo. “It would be important to send reminders as to the deadline for the vote, as well as quick links that would take students directly to the online voting site. Feedback will be solicited through an online survey from residential students, staff of student publications, residential staff and staff of student housing to determine the impact of greater publicity for student publications.”