In the past, the Flyer News staff has maintained a strong relationship with the university administration. Overall, they are responsive and willing to meet with us to address issues.

 So when Dr. Joseph Saliba, the university's provost, sent out a message to the student body on Monday, Aug. 2, that Sister Annette Schmeling, vice president for student development and dean of students, had been "separated" from her position, Flyer News was prepared to speak with the administration.

 Less than 24 hours later, we contacted President Dan Curran, Saliba, Schmeling, Dr. Bill Fischer (Schmeling's interim replacement), Amy Lopez-Matthews (director of student life and Kennedy Union), Sarah Schoper (assistant dean of students and associate director of leadership programs), UD's public relations department and UD's lawyers several times. And we had nothing. Besides Schoper, everyone else's calls went straight to voicemail or were answered by secretaries who said administrators were unavailable for several days.

 Last week, Saliba, Fischer and Curran agreed to speak with Flyer News. We greatly appreciate their time and comments. We just wish they had been willing to speak to us three weeks earlier, when Saliba's e-mail message was sent.

 Administrators and their secretaries have all told us the same thing: This is a personnel issue which they cannot comment on. But when the dean of students gets fired, it's more than a personnel issue. It's a major change, and the administration should have been more receptive to this.

 We understand administrators cannot comment on the issue for legal reasons. But they could have told us all the information we found out after weeks of work: that Schmeling wasn't just separated; she was fired, for example. Or that as of Aug. 2, at 9:05 p.m., Schmeling still believed she wasn't officially terminated. Administrators could have even explained to us that it was in Schmeling's employee contract that they could not discuss disputes of this nature. They should have been willing to address this information within the week that it came out to set the record straight. Instead, they chose silence.

 In the university setting, communication between administration and students is necessary. Students deserve more than a vague e-mail right before offices close for the day. On our first real endeavor as this year's staff, we were disappointed with the administrations' lack of a prompt, professional response to this situation. We only hope that they handle future events differently.