Readers react to a column about the trip to Samoa that WSU President Kirk Schulz and Vice President of Student Affairs Mary Jo Gonzales took in August. Besides the trip, no real effort has been put toward communicating with Samoan or other Asian and Pacific islander student organizations on campus. The trip and lack of reflection or action following it shows a hole in administrators’ understanding of student issues. Administrators would have achieved their goals more effectively if they had stayed in Pullman and communicated with the students they wanted to serve.

Read the full column here.

Daniel Stuart Hoffman: “That is a legitimate criticism, that instead of sitting down with the students here, he traveled to Samoa where WSU students are not. I think the [Mitamitaga O Samoa] representatives hit the nail on the head when they note the trip was more about securing the Samoan football pipeline than about the Samoan student body as a whole.”

Tod Merley: “And our local Pacific islander population apparently is unattended to. I guess I should say still unattended to. Several days of time should have given Schulz et al. enough time to know each individual WSU Pacific islander student quite well and so enable them to meet the students right here right now actual needs.”

John Gordon: “Three months. He got back just three months ago. It was this semester not last semester or a semester ago. Some things may just take time. Give Schulz a chance. This isn’t the drive-thru lane.”

Ula Pele: “It’s understandable when the president of a large student population doesn’t have enough time, or is busy. We just expect equal representation when and where he can help us.”

T.j. Alviz: “Emails can only do so much when you’re trying to invite the president of WSU to a weekly meeting in the evening. [Mitamitaga O Samoa] has existed on campus for years before Schulz even came to presidency and there’s also the 4th floor multicultural centers that he could have gone to inquire more. The fault is not with the students not inviting Schulz, since Schulz was the one to initiate this trip to ‘accommodate’ students. The student body doesn’t exist in the Pacific islands, it exists in Pullman.”

Katie McDaniel: “Isn’t it his job to reach out to students, though? I mean, they’re paying tuition like everyone else. He should know where the multicultural center’s office is. He doesn’t need to fly to Samoa to find out what his students on campus need. It’s not like being WSU President is a side job. He should be expected to know how to go about contacting the leaders of the school’s multicultural groups. It’s not exactly secret.”