The University of Colorado Student Government agreed on a new media and public correspondence policy this week, limiting leaders to comment only through e-mails.

Kristy Gustavson, CUSG’s director of public relations, wrote in an e-mail that all communication between the student leaders and the public must be in written form, effective immediately.

“This policy entails that all media correspondence must be through written e-mail,” Gustavson said in an e-mail Wednesday night, in response to several requests for an interview with CUSG President Will Taylor. “This includes all questions and responses.”

Taylor and Allison Foley, CUSG vice president of external affairs, agreed to an interview in person Thursday on the new policy.

Taylor said the new policy is necessary to avoid “further inconsistencies and gross inaccuracies” from news coverage on the governing body.

“Consistently, what was printed in the press was not accurately said,” Taylor said. “We want to protect our staff from people misquoting them.”

The only specific mistake Taylor cited during the interview was a Colorado Daily story about last fall’s election results in which the newspaper wrote that a referendum required a “simple minority” to pass, when in fact a simple majority was needed. The newspaper published a correction the next day.

Later Thursday night, Taylor, via e-mail, pointed out two instances where the Colorado Daily misidentified CU’s Council of Colleges and Schools.

Students gave the new policy mixed reviews Thursday, commenting on the accuracy of written communication and the lack of responsibility by student leaders.

CU senior Jennifer Kamp said the new policy could improve the accuracy of information provided to students about CUSG, but she had some concerns about overly formal statements from representatives.

“I do think the written statements could defer them from using real language to being too” politically correct, Kamp said. “Seems like they might just want more time to prepare and edit what they say so it could make their statements too formal.”

CU freshman Liynah Alkhadhra said that CUSG leaders, as the “voice of the student body,” should be held responsible to speak openly, through various forms of communication about their actions since they represent the student population.

“It seems like they’re scared,” Alkhadhra said. “They’re supposed to be there for us and I would like to have a voice. They need to be more public anyway and this seems like a move in the wrong direction.”

CU freshman Chris Robertson said he is indifferent to the policies of CUSG, an organization that he knows very little about.

“They’re not really the voice of the student body,” Robertson said. “They’re going to be vague no matter how they answer questions, so I don’t think the policy will change anything for students.”

CUSG leaders said the policy does not prohibit communication with the press, but will limit information to written formats only, mostly e-mail.

“We just want to ensure that there’s a written record of all statements,” Taylor said.

Bronson Hilliard, spokesman for the university, said CUSG arrived at its new policy “on their own” without the support or advice of the Office of Media Relations.

“This is not a terribly smart decision on their part,” Hilliard said. “I would not advise them to do media relations that way. It’s definitely not a best practice.”

Hilliard said current CUSG leaders underwent a media training session during the summer, intended to help them engage the media, run a media office and examine the best practices for success. The policy was not derived from information given during the training session and students have not had further training in media relations.

“Written communication should be a last resort, not a first,” Hilliard said.

Foley, CUSG vice president, said it doesn’t matter how the message is being dispersed as long as it’s accurate.

“As long as we’re getting the message across, it doesn’t matter if it’s in a written or verbal format,” Foley said.

But Hilliard said verbal communication is key to successfully gauging the context of a story.

“When you talk to the media, you can convey subtleties and nuances that you need to put a story in context,” Hilliard said. “That’s done much more effectively if you engage a reporter in a live discussion.”