Everything has been salty at Wayne State College, with perhaps the exception of sidewalks and parking lots. Our old, less-than-professional pal, Director of College Relations Jay Collier, could have rolled around campus himself, the copious amount of saltiness in his body greatly outweighing the salt found in tears of students (by the way, that joke’s been around longer than most of the students at the school have been alive).

When the Stater staff caught wind of the now-infamous tweet (it can be found on the front page), we reached out to the school and Collier, who has since admitted to posting the tweet, for comment. Mr. Collier, a man who told us in a beginning-of-the-year meeting that he would be available to field calls and answer questions whenever we need him, was able to parade around social media, both via the Wayne State College official Facebook and his own, as well as grant a phone interview to News Channel Nebraska’s US 92 out of Norfolk, before finally answering our third attempt at contact.

“People were salty,” Jay said. And he is correct—himself perhaps the saltiest of all. When it wasn’t enough to use the school’s Facebook account to sprout his personal thoughts, he turned to his own page to continue his criticisms.

“What I have found is that despite our repeated messages for students to use their judgement, some cranky professors still mark them with unexcused absences at times like this, which undercuts our message for the commuters to stay safe,” Collier said in a Facebook post last night. If you are going to be upset with how professors handle the situation, then why leave it in their hands to begin with?

Before answering the question, stating it is an academic policy question that someone else would have more knowledge of, he said it was not something he believed he had to answer, because it came from his private Facebook page.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Jay, but that’s not exactly how social media works. You are still an employee of Wayne State College when you spew out your opinions on your own Facebook page, and will continue to be held to the standard perceived upon to faculty and staff of the school. If I apply for a job here after I graduate, you can be damn sure my personal social media pages will be thoroughly examined. Rather than get upset that people saw your post, just think before you speak out.

“(People) are free to interpret (the social media postings) how they want to interpret it,” Collier said. And we here at The Stater are doing just that. The issue isn’t so much with classes not being cancelled, and you are correct that it’s questionable to be upset when you are told the classes you are paying for are being held. That’s not where our beef lies. Like you said yourself, some professors marked students who could not make it to class with an unexcused absence. That fear led some commuters to risk potential hazard and trek to class, and these people have a right to be upset. The issue is the lack of professionalism. Your job isn’t to be “funny,” or to be “light-hearted.” Your job is to properly direct the college’s public relations.

Mason Schweizer for The Wayne Stater