According to The Nation, Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff ’10 initially disliked all the attention surrounding her central role in the discovery that the Clinton campaign had planted questions at an event in Newton. She told the magazine that all the attention created an “awful experience” and that she wanted “nothing else to do with it.” Only three days later, CNN broadcast a televised interview with Gallo-Chasanoff.
This shift in media relations came after Gallo-Chasanoff began working with Kate Worster, director of Communication. While students seldom need the help, Grinnell has multiple policies and resources to help students in dealing with the media, potentially making media relations more manageable.
“We probably received several dozen phone calls or emails from media organizations,” said Worster, “who thought we could either get them access to the student or help them get access to the student.”
Media can easily gain access to students by calling the Grinnell switchboard. While switchboard operators do not give out phone numbers, they will connect callers to students’ rooms. According to Mark Miller, deputy director of Information Technology Planning and Business Operations, students can have their numbers blocked, but this will affect all calls, not just undesirable ones. “We can’t do it selectively,” said Miller.
Even if a number is blocked by switchboard, students’ phone numbers are accessible through the online directory of campus-networked computers. Student Affairs will only block such numbers if a student is being harassed.
Because it is so simple to contact students, administrators recommend that students dealing with media requests seek help from College and Alumni Relations, where Worster is located.
“It takes a lot of pressure off our students,” said Jennifer Krohn, dean for Student Life.
Worster worked closely with Gallo-Chasanoff, who declined to be interviewed for this story. She and others in her office took messages from the media and worked with Gallo-Chasanoff to decide whether or not to do an interview and which one to do.
“I did spend a significant amount of time with Muriel,” said Worster, “but as I told her, I would give her the good, the bad and the ugly with all of her options.”
Worster emphasized that her goal is not to make decisions for students but rather to offer the resources necessary for an informed decision. “If a student wanted to do a television interview, I would help that student be able to ask the questions that are relevant,” she said.
Regardless of whether a student works with the communications specialists at Grinnell, the department of College and Alumni Relations expects to be notified of any media on campus, and wants students to be aware that no member of the media may enter the residence halls.
“That’s a really private space,” said Krohn. “Once they’re in that space, it’s very hard to get them out.”
Krohn and Worster also emphasize that students do not need to cooperate with the media at all.
“The first thing students need to know is that it is their choice,” said Worster. “Just because the media calls you does not mean you have to finish the call. You have the choice.”
