Students are debating whether or not Chancellor Randy Woodson should join the Twitter bandwagon. Both the students and Woodson himself are torn on the actual decision to do so.
Chancellor Randy Woodson, appointed in January 2010, said his is too busy to focus on a Twitter account.
“I’m working hard to cultivate new donors to the University so we can grow our endowment to keep our tuition low,” he said. “Being the chancellor of this university is like being the CEO of a large company because NC State has a budget of $1.4 billion, 10,000 employees, and 34,000 students. My main focus needs to be in running this organization and keeping it strong.”
Woodson’s UNC Chapel Hill counterpart Holden Thorp, on the other hand, has 5722 followers and his tweets date back to Dec. 5, 2010.
Trying to keep Woodson up to date is Chandler Thompson, student body president and one of the foremost advocates for Chancellor Woodson getting a Twitter.
“One thing the student government has wanted is the administration to be more accessible to students,” Thompson said, “[Social media sites] are the number one way students get their news and information.”
Thompson is an avid user of the many avenues of networking available to students.
“As student body president, I try to communicate as many ways as possible. I tweet. Student government has a Twitter and a Facebook. We also send out bi-emails of events on campus,” Thompson said.
On the other side of the debate, Mario Terry, a senior majoring in Psychology with a minor in Forensic Science, sees potential harmful effects in the chancellor getting a Twitter.
“It could be a huge liability,” Terry said, “False things can be spread once someone ‘retweets’ it and it could look bad for the University.”
Thompson recognized those potential problems.
“One thing we know is that there are legal issues and privacy issues. But we’ll keep encouraging [leadership] to communicate to students,” she said.
One way Terry suggests this could be done is to interact more face-to-face.
“[It will] make the chancellor appear more personable,” he said.
Woodson has already implemented this in certain aspects with ‘Chat with the Chancellor’ events at Port City Java’s around campus. Woodson will be at the Nelson Hall shop on Oct. 14 and at Park Shops Nov. 21 from 2-3 p.m .
“My goal is to communicate clearly with all constituents – students, alumni, faculty, staff,” Woodson said. “The main thing is we have clear mechanisms to get out information quickly.”
In response to if there was a student outcry for him to join Twitter, Woodson said, “I’d certainly consider it.”
