Washington State’s Latest Spin

by Charles Mitchell

October 19, 2005

To its credit, the student newspaper at Washington State University seems to be holding its administrators’ feet to the fire about the recent departure of Vice President for Student Affairs Charlene Jaeger (mentioned on The Torch here). In a recent article, Daily Evergreen reporter Brian Everstine pressed university president V. Lane Rawlins (whose administration has refused to grant justice to students Chris Lee and Ed Swan) on why he requested Jaeger’s resignation. Here are the relevant paragraphs:
Charlene Jaeger’s resignation was the result of restructuring in the Office of Student Affairs, WSU President V. Lane Rawlins said on Thursday afternoon.
 
The department did not have the trust and confidence of the students that it needs on this campus and a “restructuring” was planned to compensate. Charlene Jaeger, while she did great work at the university, does not fit the needs and plans for Student Affairs, Rawlins said.
 
“Students need to have a trust with Student Affairs and this change is being made to reflect that,” Rawlins said. “It is a place in the administration that students have ownership of. I do not think we had the right pieces in place and Charlene [Jaeger] understood that.”
Students didn’t trust Jaeger’s department after it did nothing when a student play was shouted down? Imagine that.