James Madison, the father of our federal Constitution, wrote that “consent of the governed” requires that the people be able to “arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

That is the focus of Sunshine Week, which occurred March 12-18, intended to “educate the public about open government and the dangers of excessive and unnecessary secrecy.” This year’s Sunshine Week was filled with different events around the country that celebrate government transparency and raise awareness of citizens’ rights to government records.

Since its first year in 2005, Sunshine Week has been a reminder of our power as citizens of the United States to keep our government accountable. This year’s Sunshine Week was especially important because since President Donald Trump has taken office, as his administration has made some alarming moves concerning the public’s access to government information.

Previous transitional periods between presidents have raised issues about how our access to government data will change, but never to this extent.

“The reaction we are seeing is driven by concerns unique to this administration,” said Alex Howard, deputy director of Sunlight Foundation, an organization that monitors government transparency. “It’s because of the antipathy this president has shown toward government statistics and scientific knowledge.”

In February, animal cruelty data was removed by the from the U.S. Department of Agriculture website, provoking protests by animal welfare advocates. The Trump administration has also taken down sites that address climate, introduced laws that bar federal mapping of racial discrimination in housing and put on hold federal rules protecting whistleblowers, all in a few months of being in office.

It is incredibly important for U.S. citizens to have the right to view public records and know exactly what the government is doing. If we feel as though the government is not being forthcoming and is shielding information, we must take action. If not, our country will become more and more similar to the world in “1984,” where the government decides which facts are true and which to share.

Trump portrays the mainstream news media as “the enemy of the American people.” His fervent cry of “fake news” every time a news report is critical of his administration has caused many Americans to distrust the media. It is true that there is some bias in the mainstream media and that it makes mistakes, but it is also true that without a free press, a country cannot have a viable democracy. That is why the founders enshrined it in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Since that time, the media has uncovered numerous egregious political deceptions. It was the media, after all, that discovered and divulged the truth behind the Watergate Scandal, exposing the secret illegal activities of former President Richard Nixon’s administration and resulting in Nixon’s resignation.

This brings us to the current administration. There are many questions that we are depending on the press, as well as the Congress, to investigate: questions, for example, related to Trump’s conflicts of interests related to his business dealings, and the Trump administration’s ties to Russia and Russia’s attempt to influence the U.S. presidential election. And that’s what Sunshine Week is all about. It’s about our right to know the truth, and to do the hard work to discern it. Living in ignorance is easy, but it’s undemocratic and dangerous. Democracy is fragile. We must pay attention to it, maintain it and challenge entrenched authority that does not represent the interests of the people. 

That’s what we do at the Technician. We have had staff writers request the emails of our very own Chancellor Randy Woodson in order to examine them and write an article using the information that they contain. It is our job to cover what is occurring at our university, city, state, country and world and how it affects us as students. It is also our job to question what has been accepted as true.

Sunshine Week is over, but if we want our rights to remain, we, as students and as journalists, have a duty to stay aware and involved.