Six months after dismantling an employee suggestion Web site, Ohio University administrators have revived the Listening Post -- but have adopted a new censorship policy.
An online suggestion forum for the Office of Finance and Administration, the site was relaunched in July; however, administrators now reserve the right to remove comments deemed inappropriate.
We're trying to use it for what it was intended
said Terry Conry, associate vice president for Finance and Administration.
When the original site was scrapped, administrators formed a six-member focus group to create an alternative to the Listening Post, however, the only major changes to the site are the censorship guidelines.
The guidelines state, All submissions are reviewed prior to being posted along with a response ... any submission that falls outside these guidelines will be deleted without response.
Conry emphasized that the censorship policy was not to limit free speech, but rather to make sure the discussion adheres to the purpose of the site. While the site was intended to be an online suggestion box, Conry said the site turned into an arena of disgruntled claims prior to its removal in March.
It was becoming a point counter-point blog-type site Conry said. Many of the complaints were for other various departments.
Complaints related to other departments became a source of conflict between Finance and Administration and other university units, Conry said.
When an employee submitted a comment about another department Finance and Administration would forward the message to relevant department -- a practice Conry said was not universally appreciated around campus.
Conry acknowledged that the site has not been used to the same extent since its relaunch, but said that despite the difference in volume there have been several good suggestions already.
Twelve comments have been posted since the site was relaunched, compared to 421 during its first two years of operation.
mh317008@ohiou.edu
1
News
Rosie Haney
