By Angela Alfano
Co-News-Editor
In 2014, Long Island University’s website underwent a technological make-over. The entire face and layout of the LIU website was revamped. Yet, a recent investigation by the Pioneer found that, despite the aesthetic updates made to the site, much of the old information remains the same. In fact, some of the information is over two years old. Faculty members who have left the university are still listed with their phone numbers and university emails attached. Some of the departed faculty and staff members still listed on the website are:
1. Andrew Rosman
As posted by Fairleigh Dickenson University’s website, Rosman left his position as Dean from LIU’s College of Management to join Fairleigh Dickenson as of July 1, 2014. According to the Post website, he is still the Dean.
2. Katherine C. Hill-Miller
Former Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is now an English professor after stepping down from her position before the fall 2015 semester. This was a front-page news story for the Pioneer on March 31, 2015. According to the website, she is still the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
3. Kenneth Mensing
As of Feb. 2014, Mensing was no longer associated with LIU Post, according to his LinkedIn profile. He is still listed as the Campus Historian and Archivist at LIU.edu.
4. Paul Forestell
LIU Post’s former Provost left the university in the 2014 spring semester. The public can still find him through the search engine on the University’s website.
5. Sandra Lynn Mardenfeld
Professor Mardenfeld left the university after the spring 2015 semester. However, one can still find her name and information under the category Faculty Profiles, where it says she is not only a current employee, but the Chair of the Department of Journalism.
6. T.K. Blue
A former jazz professor in the music department, T.K. Blue left Post before the fall 2014 term. Yet, he is still found on the website as such. Blue’s own website is more up to date stating “As of Sept. 2014, Professor T.K. Blue is no longer on the music faculty at LIU-Post.”
Although the face of the website may be appealing to the untrained eye, the information provided is, in many cases, no longer accurate.
A representative from the IT department, who has previously been a consultant for the website in years past, said that the website is directed towards prospective students versus the current population of LIU Post students.
John Lutz, Chair of the English department, said that not only the students are frustrated by the old information. “Faculty are extremely frustrated about the website because there has been no clear or consistent means for them to provide input concerning changes to its content, nor any communication when these changes been made,” Lutz said. “This absence of a formal process represents a failure on the part of the administration to foster the shared governance and democratic decision-making necessary for a university community to thrive.”
According to Lutz, the administration is breaking links, and taking pages of the website down without consulting the faculty first, which is causing discrepancies within the departments and university as a whole.
The university’s Department of Public Relations, which is in charge of the website, is using the website as an advertising tool, according to faculty members. While advertising is necessary, Lutz said, the faculty would like to have the website geared more towards the professional connections, or links, between colleagues and, of course, as a helpful tool for current students to find professors and other information.
One way to fix the website’s fluency is to make the updating process inclusive for the admissions process and faculty alike. As of now, according to Lutz, the website is being updated too rapidly, with no communication within the university.
George Baroudi, the head of the university’s IT department, did not respond to the Pioneer’s requests for comment about the old information on the website.
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