Response to President Leebron’s statements
President Leebron said the need for secrecy was that “this sale required months of complicated and, by necessity, confidential negotiations.” Is this reasoning sound?
No. KTRU volunteers have had our trust violated, and many feel it was for the express purpose of silencing potential timely dissent. It was a violation of the President’s own “Vision For Rice University’s Second Century” which states: “It is this dedication to openness and dialogue that must continue to characterize the decision-making that is necessary to achieve our aspirations.”
President Leebron says KTRU is “one of the university’s most underutilized resources.” How do you respond?
‘Underutilization’ is subjective. Rice Art Gallery, Fondren Library, The President’s Mansion, and the football stadium are not evaluated on the basis of what percentage of them are used. KTRU fulfils its mission “to educate the station membership, the greater Houston community, and the students of Rice University through its progressive and eclectic programming in the spirit of the station’s non-commercial, educational license.”
Do you accept President Leebron’s explanation of financial motivations?
No. $9.5 million is a big number to KTRU people, but is minuscule in comparison to Rice’s budget. KTRU was never approached and asked to find a community purchaser to come up with the $9.5 million.
President Leebron says “The critical question that must be asked is in what ways the student experience will be changed as a result of this decision.” How would you answer this?
The student experience will change in many ways — notably the ability to manage a station that is strongly linked to the Houston community. Aside from the eclectic mix of music we air, much of KTRU’s focus is on what can be found locally — local bands (Local show), local events (Revelry report; KTRU news), even locally flavored music from the region (Blues in Hi-Fi). Having a station that is localized in every sense of the word makes it easier for the student DJ to branch out from inside the hedges and form ties within the community.
President Leebron says that through web-based streaming, KTRU’s audience could become even broader. Isn’t the internet good enough?
If the internet were viable on its own, KUHF would be satisfied to simply webcast their classical music. We are already on the internet, where people have to know about KTRU to find it. On the radio, people can discover KTRU as they navigate the dial. An internet-only station can’t reach an audience as diverse as an on-air station. KTRU receives hundreds of disks of new music each week because it is a broadcast station. Volunteers put their time and energy into sorting through material for the best music. This selection process makes KTRU a world-class radio station.
There is no reason to conclude that KTRU will become more popular without broadcast. Logic would lead to the opposite conclusion. Regardless, this has never been our criteria. Our mission is not to reach the greatest number of humans possible. If President Leebron would like us to change our mission, work with a much smaller set of incoming music, and to abandon our community orientation, he is no longer talking about KTRU as anyone has known it.
President Leebron has stated that “Going forward, students and others are entitled to hold us to our word that this is not a precedent… Indeed, we… might in the future strike a different balance between confidentiality and consultation even when the needs for confidentiality are high.” Is this promise meaningful?
Before committing to act differently in the future, he needs to correct the current error by terminating the sale immediately and entering into negotiations with KTRU.
President Leebron claims he “approached those discussions always with the best interests of our students, faculty and alumni and the future of our university as our highest priorities.” Does this ring true?
No. It is impossible to keep the best interests in mind of those with whom you have not even consulted.