This week, a group of U.N. ambassadors were involved in a panel discussion at the Hinckley Institute Caucus Room. They said some controversial things, following it all with, “All this is off the record, of course.”
It turned out that there was a miscommunication between university officials and the ambassadors-the ambassadors thought they were at the U for a closed meeting with just a few administrators, professors and students. The U, on the other hand, advertised the event as a public forum, and attendees included members of the media as well as local politicians.
Obviously, this miscommunication was unfortunate, but it didn’t have to turn into the debacle that it did. First, the ambassadors knew they were in a room full of reporters and photographers. They saw rows of people taking notes and camera flashes going off intermittently. Even though the moderator began the forum by saying that the comments were “off the record,” they should have realized that their closed meeting had suddenly turned into a public forum-and they should have tailored their statements accordingly. The meeting could have still been informative and educational, and one would assume that an ambassador would know how to speak to the media.
If that was not an option, the panelists should have simply asked the journalists to leave-though this would have naturally left them open to an entirely different type of criticism.
In addition, the ambassadors should examine the fact that they ever thought the meeting was closed to begin with. Why would a group of high-ranking politicians come to a public university setting with the intent of talking to only a few students and professors? Wasn’t their purpose in coming to educate-and how can anyone but those fortunate enough to be in the room at the time learn from their presentations unless the media can report on what went on?
In all honesty, what was the point of having these ambassadors on campus if they weren’t going to allow their discussion to be open to the entire U student body? The likely assumption on the part of the U, as well as various media outlets, was that since the meeting was held in a relatively small room, people who were interested in what the ambassadors had to say would have to rely on the reporting of the journalists who were present to receive the information.
In our global world, international politics are of great interest to many people. The U.N. ambassadors should examine their motives for coming to a university only to shut out 99 percent of its students and faculty members.