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Thursday. November 16, 2000 - Page 4 COMMENTARY Staff Letter to the editor about TTY services To the Editor; typewriter) that was placed at the Info Desk, Editors-In-Chief tradicts with the above quote because the info r have deep personal Laura Beth Kelley '01 Community at WMC. concern for the Deaf and I shared my concern afterward. She in- desk is listed as one of the TTY locations Jenifer D. Sirkis '01 formed me that a faculty member informed on-campus. Earlier today, I received a last minute e- her that the TTY was for "office use." Iwas, Also, I would like to make another point News Editors mail message from a professor announcing to put it mildly, in personal shock. about the Info Desk. I tried contacting the Claire Adams '02 that class was canceled for the day. Shortly Later, I informed the lady at the desk that Info Desk repeatedly from 12:35 p.m. to Staci George '03 thereafter, I paged one of my interpreters to it was an important and emergency call. She l2:40 p.m. by TTY. attempt to inform her of the announcement. plainly informed me that she was only fol- No one attempted to switch from "the Assistant News Editor I made this paging call in my dorm room. lowing office policy. voice mode to TTY mode. As a result, who- Joan Faulkner '02 Several minutes later, Ireceived a voice In response, Iinformed her that Ihad used ever answered ended up hanging up. This phone call. Isimply informed my interpreter the TTY in the office before and had never proved that not everyone who works at the Features Editor to please call me through MD Relay Service, heard this "policy" before. I also wanted to Info Desk is familiar with what TTY signals Shauna Dominguez '02 which I had' done several times before. A know where this policy came from and if is mean. good few long minutes passed when my was ever put in writing. Assistant Features.Editor dorm room phone rang again. It was a voice With this recent experience, Iam deeply What if a Deaf Community member Matt McGowan '04 phone call. I was puzzled. confused and upset about why it happened. needed to contact the Info Desk for emer- I attempted communicating to her by If the TTY is to be used for office only, then gency concerns and never got feedback? Commentary Editor voice the best way I knew how and hoped I believe that all that anyone who works Edward Schultheis '03 why does the 2000-2001 Student Guide and at the Info Desk would need to do is learn she would understand the phrase: "Class is Datebook provide the college's TTY on- what "GA," "SK," and "Q" mean, through a canceled today." I realized that she laughed campus locations under the heading, "Tele- Assistant Commentary Editor as a sign of not understanding me. training session for about 5 to 10 minutes, BJ Shorb '02 phone and Copying Services" on Page 36? in order to comprehend TTY conversations. Frustrated, I searched for one of my My interpreter was denied service to the suitemates to help me with the phone call. Info Desk TTY. Here is a quote. from Page By the way, TTY-to-TTY conversations Sports Editor are much quicker than TTY-to-MD-Relay- Finally, I got the message from my inter- 36, Matthew Hurff '03 Service-Operator conversations. preter that she was at Decker Center. I told "The Western Maryland College Tele- I thank you very much for your valuable Assistant Sports Editor my suitemate to tell my interpreter that I communications Department (WMCTD) of- time. Please help me clarify the supposed Greg Lederer '03 would meet her immediately there. fers an advanced system designed to expand purposes of the Info Desk TTY, as it should As soon as I found my interpreter, I ut- voice and data communications on and off be more accessible for school-related and Copy Editor tered in sign language: "Class is canceled campus emergency calls. Stacey Welch '04 today!" We laughed at how simple, but im- After further analysis, I find the "only for portant, the message was. Soon, I realized office use" purpose granted (0 the Info Desk Photographers that she could have easily used TTY (tele- lTY as highly ridiculous and unjust. It con- Sincerely, Kelley Diamond '04 Penelope Miller Brad Widner '03 Media jumps to conclusions about election Distribution Manager Zsanett Borsos '02 Edward K. Schultheis Maybe they are trying to get the infor- media were fast to announce Bush as the next mation to us, but for one thing, if i am get- president as wet! as equally fast to announce Student Government Reporter ting the results, I would like them to be ac- certain states to candidates who did nOI win Megan K. Marlin '01 curate. Idon't want to see projections from them. This is the problem with today's me- states where only I percent of the ballots dia, one that needs to be corrected. Senior Writer watch- have been tabulated. That's just plain ridicu- There is a conflict concerning the media Kate Esposito '01 lous to predict the winner based on that. I today. This conflict rests around two codes want solid numbers and solid predictions. Is of journalistic ethics. The first being to get StalTWriters that so much to ask? the news out. The second to be truthful. They Amy Bittinger '01 While I have been hounding the televi- are conflicting because in this day of high Jessica Fisher '04 sion stations for their predictions and their technology, news programs try to be the first Michael Jenkinson '02 coverage of the event, they aren't the only to get news out so that they beat their com- Craig P. Johnson '03 11""'",,"'.....111 been watching form of media that was embarrassed when it petitors. The problem with this philosophy Randall Justice 'OJ ,~"", "_something came to predictions. Along with television is that when news programs and papers try Jeremy Keil '02 ~..__----'.,.. about the elec- and the Internet, newspapers were also fast Nykole Tyson '02 to be the first, the probability that the infor- Lisa Dale Van Auken '02 tion. This is a huge step for me considering to cover the election. They were also fast mation will be incorrect increases greatly. the fact that over the past few days I have when it came to announcing the winner. A I'm reminded of the not so old saying been staying up watching coverage almost few newspapers ran headlines similar to the "first is the worst, second is the best, third is nonstop. famous "Dewey Defeats Truman" only to Adviser the one with the hairy chesc.." or something Terry Dalton After I voted on Election Day, I was sur- change the headlines in the next edition. like that. Either way, the adage is correct prised to find out that Al Gore had appar- The famous headline mentioned before because when you are second, you have the ently won Florida. I was sure that he was has been preserved by the photograph of ability to correct the mistakes that the first The Phoenix. is published biweekly. The going to win my homestate of Maryland, but President Truman holding the newspaper one made. It pays to wait, as proven by the f.'Pinions expressed do not necessarily represent Florida was a big surprise to me. Granted, it over his head after coming from behind to amount of newspapers and telecasts that had jthose of The Phoenix staff, the faculty, or the was only about 7 pm, but all the TV stations to backtrack and correct their faults when it ~inistratorsofWMC. had already shaded Florida blue for Gore. The New York Post ran came to state predictions and election win- The paper welcomes free-lance submissions By the time I had finished eating dinner ners. ion Macintosh disks in most word processor for- and turned the TV on again, Florida was no the headline "BUSH Another example of this is the discrep- ~. The editors reserve the right to edit f01 longer shaded blue. WINS!" only to follow it ancy between electoral votes on different larity, length, and libel and to publish as ~~ Now it was determined too close to call. permns. All submissions (excluding self-ad- Even Pennsylvania, which too was shaded with "GORE WON'T television channels. When Iflipped through to see I was kind of startled the channels, ~ diskettes) become the property of The blue, was also determined 100 close to call CONCEDE." that different TV stations had different counts (Phoenix and cannot be returned. for a bit of the night. It seems from what I for the votes. Either it was through "fuzzy Please include a name and phone-number know while I am typing this is that a good. win the election. AI Gore could probably do math," or more possibly, the fact that differ- or verification. Names will be withheld only by portion of the United States is still up for the same if he ends up coming from behind ent channels had different states colored for Ithe discretion of the Editors-in-Chief. grabs with Oregon still out, and Bush appar- to win the election this year because papers Bush or Gore. The Phoenix does notdiscriminate based or ently ready to challenge the results in New made the same mistake this time. While this may have ~, race. religion, gender, sexual orientation, Mexico and Iowa. To quote Jerry Seinfeld, The New York Post ran the headline election in recent history, been the closest it was all but ru- !national origin, condition of handicap, or mari- "What's the deal with that?" "BUSH WINS!" only to follow it with ined by the media. They presented it totally fru= While it seems that my problem is with "GORE WON'T CONCEDE." The Austin wrong, and it certainly was wrong to an- the election itself, it really isn't. My prob- American- Statesman ran a similar first head- nounce things that were not true yet. Mail to: lem has to deal with the severe misinforma- line with "Bush!" with the next edition stat- We the people are to blame also, because The Phoenix. tion presented by the media during the elec- ing, "History on Hold." The Milwaukee we want everything right away, and the net- WMC, 2 College Hill tion. Journal Sentinel was mixed up as well with works are right there to give us exactly what Westminster, MD 21 157 While we have been made to sit here, "Bush wins at wire" followed by "Bush pro- we want. (410)751-8600 jected to win" finished off with "Ioo Close So until the people decide that they want FAJ(, (410) 857-2729 eyes glued to the TV, it seems that during to Call." The best one had to have been The accuracy over speed, there are going to be to their this time the media has been jumping E-Mail: phoenix@wmck.edu own conclusions and posting them immedi- Orange County Register with a humorous mistakes and headlines that read "Dewey atelyon the tube and web to beat out their headline of "A WHOWONlT." Defeats Truman" and "It's Bush'in a tight competition. While it seems that all aspects of the one," taken from The Boston Globe.