What's next, a fee to post information?

Ok, this is not the greatest of ideas!!!

I think this is a good idea. While it is a little more red tape to go through, it does ensure that students who have a great message or event will be able to have it seen by others without other "garbage" getting in the way.

On the other hand, I think they should also put up more posting boards if they are going to enforce this...

Anyone with reasonable awareness of the ways in which university communities function knows that "messy" and informal posting is evidence of a lively community. This policy furthers the transformation of Eastern Illinois University into Eastern Illinois High School. If I lose a USB drive, I now need to get permission from the principal to post an announcement? Please!

Ironic too given that some bulletin boards in some classroom buildings are already completely hidden by soda machines.

Too bad most all of the bulletin boards around campus are too inconveniently located to be noticed or useful. Almost every flier I've ever read has been upon the doors of Coleman Hall or the windows of the various offices... and most of these fliers are posted by the DEPARTMENTS whose offices reside there themselves. Are the owners of said offices not even allowed to advertise their own events and information to their own students in their own areas of interest anymore without proceeding through time-consuming, wasteful, and inefficient red tape first?

Good job EIU. Ways to make a policy doomed to idiocy 101, attack community correspondence... :P.

So this policy was put in place in September, yet we're just now finding out about it? I highly doubt that this is for our own good if they've hid this from us for this long. Whats the real story here? And why are RSO's getting singled out? I thought there were some benefits to being an RSO, not more restrictions!

What a terrible idea! It takes only common sense to figure out that student retention is directly related to social and academic opportunities for students.

Before this rule, every day I saw posters for concerts at Paper Cafe, poetry readings, lectures, etc., as well as posters offering services to students from places like the Writing Center, Study Abroad, and the Counseling Center. All of these contributed to a sense of lively and engaged community at EIU *and* to students' perception of EIU as a place with helpful services.

Now, when students say "there's nothing to do here," I guess I'll reply, "well, that certainly seems to be what you are supposed to think."

I'd love to know President Perry's opinion of this decision vis á vis his goal of integrative learning--there's nothing "integrative" about regulating community communication.

Besides the fact that I believe this is a poor policy, it will be intersting to see if this is actually enforced. With so many places to post on campus, how will they all actually be "policed." Also, will most people who post on these boards realize the policy has changed? I guess I fail to realize the harm in some cluttered bulletin boards. And, who is to say what is "garbage" and what is useful to students?

First of all, I DO believe that Eastern should have many public boards, public outside kiosks and other areas that can be used - but not overused or abused - by the general public for advertising events, opinions and needs/wants. Secondly, I ALSO believe that there is a need for communication spaces reserved for conducting the business of the University - organization boards, Union boards, office boards - so that people can quickly find information that is directly related to the office that are standing in front of.

As a departmental Office Manager, it is my responsibility to maintain our bulletin board as a professional, useful communication tool for our office. Our board has _always_ had a small sign on it that says "this bulletin board is for departmental use only." After taking off many non-departmentally-approved fliers for "buy cheap trips to foreign countries from our Chicago travel company", "pancake breakfast fliers", "rush sorority/fraternity" - which have very little to do with promoting internationalization on Eastern's campus AND were unsolicited - I added a sign that said indicated where our office was located, hoping that people would come and ask permission to use our board.

I believe that if someone feels strongly enough about advertising their activity, they will come and ask me if they may post their flier for them. Robyn Paige-Carr has been very helpful in working with me and the Greek organizations she supervises to try and help maintain the professionalism of our area. Whenever I remove a posting, I try to contact the hanger and tell them that I would (more than likely) be glad to hang their flier in the future, IF it fits with our mission and IF they ask me ahead of time. To this date, no organization has come in to ask if they can hang a flier on our board. This, to me, indicates a lack of respect for our office and the space that is uses for professional activities.

I think this is a ridiculous policy. First off, that office will be overloaded with requests. Second, there should be at least one place where any kind of flier can be posted. Sure, someone can be in charge of taking down "out of date" posters, but in a way, I see this policy a restriction on freedom of speech on campus, and I think it's a terrible idea. Who cares if a bored is messy? Those who want to read the fliers can, and those who wouldn't bother anyway it doesn't really matter!

I don't think this is a ridiculous or unorthodox policy. I agree with it. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has the same policy and I don't believe anyone there has fussed or complained about "restriction on freedom of speech" as the few commentators above. This policy seems efficient and practical. No more clogging the boards with the over eye stimulation of ads and fliers on top of each other, (some which lack the complete story or simple standard information such as when, where and why). The fliers are taken down once they succeed the approved date and at SIUE, if someone wanted to extend the date, all they had to do was get a new stamp. And hey, if it's too much of a hassle walking to the Office of Campus Scheduling which is located next to the Union Bridge Lounge to get the approved rubber stamp, than maybe it would just be easier for that person to find a different means to their advertising because complaining about how ridiculous the policy is when the University is only trying to improve the campus services they offer, will get you no sympathy with people who actually use it on a daily basis.

What paper-pushing brainchild thought of this make-work policy?