For students to simply be unaware of something is one thing. It’s another matter when important information is withheld, willfully or otherwise, from students.
This editorial was written in response to the utter lack of communication from the Linfield administration to its student body about several reported cases of alleged H1N1 on campus. (Testing has only verified that those infected have a subtype of Influenza A but not the particular strain of the illness.)
The Review would not have known about the cases reported in the “Enter at your own risk: H1N1 hits campus” story last week, except that some students who contacted the newspaper personally knew others who were infected.
The administration has not kept quiet across campus, however. It’s quite the contrary. The Review obtained a Sept. 30 e-mail addressed to all McMinnville and Portland campus faculty and employees (notice the exclusion of students) from Linda Powell, senior director of human resources and administration. We were never e-mailed directly.
The point is that, while Powell’s e-mail revealed nothing more than what last week’s Review story already mentioned (there are no plans for “Resident Evil”-style mass quarantines), it would have been nice to have received that information from the source and not secondhand.
To top this off, parents of healthy students have yet to become informed of these infected students. When we asked the Review staff members if their parents had been informed by the administration that H1N1 was on campus before they read the Review last week, no one answered “yes.” As far as we know, the administration still hasn’t mentioned anything to healthy students or their parents.
The only people told were faculty, staff and residents of the infected residence halls.
But what about the other students? Don’t we have a right to know?
Despite all of that, Jeff Mackay, director of housing and associate dean of students, was more than willing to talk to the Review about H1N1. We find this peculiar. Why couldn’t the administration be as forward as Mackay from the beginning? Trust us, most students were aware of the virus.
Mentioning the bare minimum just enhances this Linfield “conspiracy theory” and leaves rumors to dictate the truth.
We’re always up for getting the scoop, but not so much in this case. Such a significant fact should have been shared with students the minute it became available. To withhold information because it might be damaging to the college is irresponsible and selfish. In the end, hiding the truth may cause more harm than good.
So here’s a news fact: H1N1 is everywhere. We know it; you know it; everyone knows it. It’s called a pandemic for a reason. So isn’t it about time we got that e-mail?

–The Review Editorial Board