Dear readers,

We, the editor in chief and managing editor of the Justice, want to clarify some factual inaccuracies brought up in a recent “Letter to the editor” from Vice President of Campus Operations Lois Stanley. Stanley responded to an article published in the Nov. 8 edition of the Justice called “‘We try to do the best we can;’ Facilities custodians faced with impossible workloads.”

Stanley claimed that Justice editors Leah Breakstone and Dalya Koller who wrote the story gave “no indication [to Stanley or Director of Facilities Lori Kabel] this piece would so directly and negatively target a member of my leadership team” in reference to Kabel. However, this is untrue. Below are screenshots of emails sent from Breakstone and Koller to Kabel, Stanley, and Assistant Vice President of Communications Julie Jette on Nov. 4 asking for a statement from Kabel. Breakstone and Koller explicitly stated that their article concerns “complaints from facilities workers about unfair and unrealistic workloads as a result of being understaffed, attributed to a lack of room in the budget to hire more employees.” They told Kabel that they would include a statement from her if she desired, “as the matter greatly involves you.” 

Stanley also claimed in her letter that the Justice reported a request for an interview with Kabel and Stanley in our Nov. 8 article. Again, this is factually incorrect. At no point in the Nov. 8 article did we mention a request for an interview with Kabel and Stanley. 

Stanley referenced various data points and other information in regards to facilities staff’s workloads and building assignments. We greatly appreciate being given this information; however, the Justice asked for this data from Stanley on Oct. 25, two weeks before we published the Nov. 8 article in question. Stanley responded on Oct. 27, passing off the questions to Kabel. The Justice never received a response beyond that, even after Breakstone called Stanley’s office phone and left a message on Nov. 2 (see below). 

Stanley repeated twice that she believes the article is “unfair.” Stanley also broadly claimed that “[t]here were far too many factual errors [in the article] for me to address in this letter.” We believe this statement to be problematic as it vaguely criticizes the journalistic integrity of the Justice’s article without any specific or documentable examples to back it up. In light of the inaccuracies we have highlighted in Stanley’s critiques, her complaints do not have many specific details to substantiate them beyond a general dislike of the content of the article, which portrays facilities management in a largely negative light.

We at the Justice always value feedback, constructive criticism, and input on our reporting. This letter was not written with the intention of discouraging future letters to the editor; rather, we want to clarify the record for the benefit of our readers. We hold our reporting to the highest standard of journalistic ethics.

Sincerely,

Jen Crystal, editor in chief of the Justice

Jane Flautt, managing editor of the Justice