Senior Columnist

In sports, speed kills.

It’s a tool used to elevate one’s self above and beyond what’s needed to put your team at the top. You can teach, coach and train everything else. Speed is almost it’s own being. Whether or not it’s utilized is completely up to the individual.

For me, it’s the opposite. Being a journalist waiting on a slow-moving bureaucratic machine in order to finish a task kills my morale and lays waste to confidence in an institution.

This institution is CSU Bakersfield.

On March 19, I sent an information request to acquire some financial records to explore a potential story. Under the California Public Records Act, holders of public information are required to respond in ten days.

Not only did my request go unanswered, it was on me to seek out answers.

After a few weeks, I had to reach out to CSUB’s Director of Public Affairs and Communications Kevin McCusker via personal text. It was only then that I got a response.

Now I sit here on my couch watching the Tigers play the Royals, a month and a half after my initial request, without any information whatsoever.

It’s unfortunate that my situation comes on the heels of CSU Fullerton’s Daily Titan editorial piece about being stonewalled when it comes to information and interviews with school officials. I can’t help but sympathize with the staff of The Daily Titan. I wish I didn’t have to.

To repeat the Titan’s message, when it takes this long for an institution to fulfill a simple request for information that’s available to the public, it makes it seem as though it is hiding something. While that may not be the case, appearances are everything.

CSUB is not a huge school. It’s big enough to have the means to properly file all the necessary information, but small enough that it can be retrieved quickly, easily and efficiently.

CSUB isn’t helping its case, either. Ever since we ran an unfavorable story about attendance at some of CSUB’s sporting events, The Runner’s sports reporters were prompted to screen our questions and explain the nature of our stories to Assistant Athletic Director for Communications, Corey Costelloe, before he grants us permission to interview coaches.

Right now, I’m not proud to be a Roadrunner.

At first, I thought it was humorous that CSUB “didn’t know” that the emergency water ordinance applied to them, the biggest water consumer in the city. You know, like a child who agrees to follow the rules of Chuck E. Cheese’s, but still throws things everywhere and says, “Ohh, They didn’t say my name specifically so I assumed that I was exempt.”

Fellow students, I’d advise keeping tabs on your student government as well. It’s rife with rumors and allegations, one official against another, conveniently right before election season.

My problem is not the biggest on CSUB’s plate, but it’s easily solvable. I’m not asking for special treatment. I’m demanding transparency.