What In The Hell Just Happened?
Okay so I wake up this morning and after showering and all that good stuff as usual I checked the New York Times website to see what's going on. Well down in the bottom right corner of the screen I see something saying they'd arrested two people in connection with the church fires. The article didn't say who they were or anything else. Well by the time I made it to my first class I had a text message asking me if I knew Ben Moseley or Russ DeBusk. I was really confused why he would be asking me that. I didn't respond right away because I had to get to my Calculus exam. So after I finish my exam I'm waiting in line in the food court for my delicious pasta when a guy I know named Chase asked me if I'd heard about Ben and Russ. So he proceeds to tell me about how the FBI and the ATF were in Hanson all night searching both of their rooms and questioning them. I didn't have time to go to a computer or see a tv before I had to go to my Organismal Biology class, but when we got to class Dr. Runquist said a few little things about it and told us that Dr. Pollick wanted to speak to the students at 3. So as soon as I get out of Bio I run up to my room and get on the computer and start checking out news websites. On our email our Provost had sent an email to everyone asking us to be careful what we say to the media and that Dr. Pollick would be speaking to the student body at 3 and a press conference at 4. Every website I went to had their pictures plastered at the top of the page except for the BBC which only had a story buried in the "Americas" section.
So at 3 I along with practically every other BSC student went to hear what Dr. Pollick had to say. I've never seen that many people in Munger before. The room was absolutely packed, and once he started talking there was almost no other noise. He read us the press release and then answered questions we had. He then told us that he would not be banning the media from the campus, though CNN already had a satellite truck at a restaraunt across the street from campus and had already begun making broadcasts with our school's logo as the backdrop. So on my way back to my room for a few minutes I walked by the campus center where they were going to have the press conference; I counted at least 15 news vehicles (trucks, vans, SUV's). At that point they were all too busy to talk to us because they were preparing for the press conference. So I go back down to the news conference where Dr. Pollick basically just read the press release from the school. Then the reporters began looking for blood. They started asking questions about how the school was going to try and help out the churches that had been damaged and all kinds of other irrelevant questions. Then later I saw a piece on TV where they made a point of saying that BSC was a Methodist school and that these kids who had gone here had been burning churches. Why do they have to attack a school like this that has had a nearly impeccable record for 150 years and now the reporters are making it sound like because two students were almost certainly involved in something like this, it means all of us as this school, faculty and students included, are tarnished. Sure this puts a bad image to the school, but nobody has said anything about the third guy who goes to UAB, what about UAB, does UAB promote heathen behavior as this school does? Of course not, and neither does this school, but because we're affiliated with a religious organization they parade that in front of the world, literally. This story is being covered not only by national networks, but also by networks from other countries like the BBC.
So after the press conference all the reporters set up shop around campus, mostly in the areas that all of the students are going to be. It was impossible to get into the cafeteria without walking past them. They all were trying to interview students, to find out everything they could about these guys. Normally when you look at the view from the dorm quad all you can see is Birmingham, but tonight there were satellite dishes and portable transmission towers poking up from all the vans.
It may sound like I'm taking this all too personally because I didn't know Ben or Russ, I knew who they were. I'm taking this personally because this kind of reporting undermines the integrity and the prestige of this school. It degrades the face-value of the incredible education that I'm receiving here, that I worked my ass off to have the chance to get. I'm just frustrated with the way the media is handling this entire situation. Of course it's a big deal, and it is hard to wrap your mind around, but I just don't get it.
So at 3 I along with practically every other BSC student went to hear what Dr. Pollick had to say. I've never seen that many people in Munger before. The room was absolutely packed, and once he started talking there was almost no other noise. He read us the press release and then answered questions we had. He then told us that he would not be banning the media from the campus, though CNN already had a satellite truck at a restaraunt across the street from campus and had already begun making broadcasts with our school's logo as the backdrop. So on my way back to my room for a few minutes I walked by the campus center where they were going to have the press conference; I counted at least 15 news vehicles (trucks, vans, SUV's). At that point they were all too busy to talk to us because they were preparing for the press conference. So I go back down to the news conference where Dr. Pollick basically just read the press release from the school. Then the reporters began looking for blood. They started asking questions about how the school was going to try and help out the churches that had been damaged and all kinds of other irrelevant questions. Then later I saw a piece on TV where they made a point of saying that BSC was a Methodist school and that these kids who had gone here had been burning churches. Why do they have to attack a school like this that has had a nearly impeccable record for 150 years and now the reporters are making it sound like because two students were almost certainly involved in something like this, it means all of us as this school, faculty and students included, are tarnished. Sure this puts a bad image to the school, but nobody has said anything about the third guy who goes to UAB, what about UAB, does UAB promote heathen behavior as this school does? Of course not, and neither does this school, but because we're affiliated with a religious organization they parade that in front of the world, literally. This story is being covered not only by national networks, but also by networks from other countries like the BBC.
So after the press conference all the reporters set up shop around campus, mostly in the areas that all of the students are going to be. It was impossible to get into the cafeteria without walking past them. They all were trying to interview students, to find out everything they could about these guys. Normally when you look at the view from the dorm quad all you can see is Birmingham, but tonight there were satellite dishes and portable transmission towers poking up from all the vans.
It may sound like I'm taking this all too personally because I didn't know Ben or Russ, I knew who they were. I'm taking this personally because this kind of reporting undermines the integrity and the prestige of this school. It degrades the face-value of the incredible education that I'm receiving here, that I worked my ass off to have the chance to get. I'm just frustrated with the way the media is handling this entire situation. Of course it's a big deal, and it is hard to wrap your mind around, but I just don't get it.