 when the media make haste on a nonissue when the media make haste on a nonissue when the media make haste on a nonissue webmaster thu 9212017 1305 dear editor as registrar of the university of guyana i wish to respond to and clarify a number of issues initially raised in a published article entitled guyanese robbed of opportunity to study at leeds university dated september 1 2017 which was recently recirculated in various social media outlets during the period commencing september 14 2017 and subjected to comments in letters to the editor specifically in the kaieteur news of september 17 2017 it is indeed unfortunate that the university administration was not approached by the guyana times or the kaieteur news to clarify some of the allegations and conclusions arrived at in the article or letter prior to publication in this regard it behooves me to provide both context and the facts in the referenced matter ever since my appointment as registrar of the university of guyana in 2015 the registry adopted as its mission transforming the registry into a student focused and student friendly environment in this regard there was the commencement of the provision of service to the general public and students between 700 h and 1900 h monday to friday and 830 h to noon on saturdays additionally applications for transcripts are duly processed verified and dispatched within a 48hour period in accordance with receipt of full information and prescribed payments for some strange reason after a complete year the article has reappeared with some publishing opinions not consistent with the facts and without the benefit of total information allow me the opportunity therefore to provide some background and factual context on this matter as follows at 1140 h on monday september 11 2017 i received an email from former student renita chanderballi seeking inter alia my urgent assistance in transmitting a transcript that was requested less than a week ago september 6 2017 to be sent to leeds university at 620 h on september 12 2017 i acknowledged the email of the previous day and promised ms chanderballi that i will ascertain the facts in the matter and revert to her later that same day on september 12 2017 at 1746 h the assistant registrar for examinations dispatched an email to ms chanderballi advising her inter alia that the transcript was uplifted by fedex today and further suggested that she should track the delivery with the tracking number which she had in her possession ms chanderballi immediately acknowledged receipt of the email from the assistant registrar for examinations and conveyed her thanks for the quick response today and for preparing my transcript free of cost and that it was much appreciated it is indeed unfortunate and perhaps injudicious that for reasons best known to them some media operatives came to conclusions and passed judgement without the benefit of the facts indeed it has been established that contrary to erroneous reporting as specifically reflected in a letter written by mr freddie kissoon and published in the kaieteur news on september 17 2017 the student is currently attending leeds university and we wish our alumna as we wish all other alumni the best we are happy to have been able to provide her the foundation for getting into leeds in this regard it is my considered opinion that given the recent facts in this matter there should be a full retraction and unqualified apology by all media houses that recently published unsubstantiated articles and letters on this matter in their respective newspapers without the benefit of complete information indeed the university administration has not been informed by either leeds university or ms chanderballi that there has been any negative impact on her scholarship finally it is my respectful view that while the public has a right to information there must be a corresponding duty to be responsible by the provision of information that is informed by the best evidence in which there is little or no element of selfinterest lack of information and bias yours faithfully c nigel gravesande registrar the university of guyana registrar c nigel gravesande 