Bulldogs and Times-Delphic readers,

Today, the Provost of the university sent a campus-wide email addressing a recently published Des Moines Register article. The reporter of the article did not reach out to The Times-Delphic for comment despite us being quoted in it. The Provost expressed her displeasure with the story stating, “the reporter took the easy way out and opted for a story, rather than searching for the truth.” However, the email was not about the content of the article nor the accuracy of it; instead, the email was a thinly veiled attack on the fourth estate.

Very rarely has an administrative figure acknowledged, in a campus-wide email, any article published about the university from any publication. The out-of-scope communication and the remarks over people “asking questions seemingly already [with their minds] made up about the answer, about whether I’m telling the truth, with the story already written” is a slight against journalists everywhere. As journalists, we are meant to question authority and the status quo. We are meant to hold institutions accountable. We are meant to call for transparency even when it isn’t pretty. 

We remain steadfast in our call for the release of raw COVID-19 data. The staff of The Times-Delphic will continue our quest to report accurately and to the best of our ability following our code of ethics. Journalism is constantly under attack, but it shouldn’t be by the very institution that espouses to teach us critical thinking and how to be engaged citizens of the world. 

More than ever, we need transparent and straightforward communication so the students of Drake University can make important personal health decisions and so that we, the journalists asking questions no one wants to answer, can do our jobs.

Power in truth,

The Times-Delphic