By Tanner Harris
News Reporter
Poor communication of CSU Bakersfield news to students via social media continues to be a problem.
Students at CSU Bakersfield said that they are not well informed when it comes to campus affairs.
Zachary Fennell, 22, an English major and commuter student, said he’s more informed by the flyers around campus than by the administration itself when he’s on campus.
“I think there could be a few more details that the school is leaving out or not putting enough emphasis in; all I know is that there are some areas that need improvement. [They should] try and have more of a presence on the digital front,” said Fennell.
Mariela Gomez, Associated Students Incorporated president, said she thinks ASI has done their best when it comes to communicating with students, but acknowledges the difficulties students are having.
“It’s just tough for students to receive information because they don’t want to get into the habit of information overload. If every department just posts inside of DDH, no one is going to pay attention,” said Gomez.
Students often have to resort to finding out campus news and events for themselves.
Michael Saenz, 18, a freshman art major, said this is the case for him.
“Whenever I see or hear something happen, it’s because I’m looking for it. I only saw that [faculty towers had been demolished] because it was me who discovered that, not the school. I don’t think [communication] is the best, and I don’t think it’s done in the best way,” said Saenz.
Many students have said that though they may receive emails, communication is still not reaching enough students.
Nadia Chofer, 18, a freshman Child and Adolescent Family studies major, said that she checks her email every day but still said things could be better. Chofer also recognizes the difficulty in reaching a large number of students.”
“Whatever is sent to my email is what I do know of…I feel like there’s not a lot of outreach toward first year students. I feel like it’s very out of touch. It’s probably difficult on their behalf to reach out to every student, but there’s always more to be done,” said Chofer.
Gomez recognized the importance of The Runner when it comes to relaying information to the student body.
“[The Runner] has done a very good job at communicating [departments’ agendas]…and reporting the main issues students would be concerned about. It’s important for [the newspaper] to bring these issues forward,” said Gomez.
Kellie McWatters, 21, a sophomore biology major, said that certain schools at CSUB do a better job of communicating with students than others.
“I don’t think [the campus changes] are well advertised at all, [but] there’s a lot of flyers everywhere. The Business and Public Administration School [communicates] very well, they send out a lot of flyers all the time. [The administration] should take them as an example,” said McWatters.
However, students said that there are some things the CSUB administration does well.
“They are able to motivate students to participate in these communal events…and I see a lot of tutoring,” said Saenz.
Maddie Flajnik, 19, a sophomore business major, praised the Student Union for their involvement and said the professors could help in relaying campus news.
“A lot of stuff goes on outside the Student Union; like the Popcorn Days get the students involved in the union, and they can go from there and see what events are going on. I would tell the professors to…in the beginning of class spend some time to talk about what’s going on campus,” said Flajnik.
Gomez said that there is always room for improvement and said that ASI is currently developing a mobile app for students.
“We’re always looking for ways to communicate with students…but, of course, it gets lost in students’ emails. We’re also supporting mobile app, so that’s going to strengthen communication. We should have the first phases of that up and running in January,” said Gomez.
