Last year, the Focus party swept student government elections. One of the campaign promises made to students was the compilation of a “RedPages.” The booklet was envisioned to be a sort of Yellow Pages for the U. It would include schedules, contact info for campus clubs and organizations and more.
Last week the project was handed out to students for free. Unfortunately, the final product doesn’t quite live up to the promise. As far as free planners go, Red Pages is pretty decent. But we can’t help but feel disappointed when comparing the small planner to the original vision.
Aside from other shortcomings, the most glaring was the exclusion of contact information for registered student groups. Included is a list of the clubs, but no contact information is given. Student leaders e-mailed campus groups over the summer requesting their contact information. The seven groups that replied are featured with numbers, e-mails, etc. The other 293 organizations that didn’t respond were put on a giant list with no details.
More disappointing is the apparent lack of effort put into the publication. E-mailing student groups during the summer when activity is low seems doomed to fail. Any member of student government could have guessed that months in advance. Most of the other information included in the planner feels like it was ripped directly from the U Web sites. There is nothing new or more helpful than what is already available online. The layout also looks like it was thrown together at the last minute.
Not a lot of time or effort was invested in RedPages. Free planners are nice, but they probably aren’t worth the 760,000 pages of paper used to produce them.
RedPages might have been a higher aspiration than the party realized, but unattainable campaign promises should not be made. Hopefully future promises are honored with more zeal than the RedPages project has been.