We ran a piece today, Jan. 3, by reporter Isaac Groves that detailed a lawsuit brought by Elon University against a former student over a loan debt. It's unusual to see the university suing a student over anything.
Isaac found out the now defunct federal Perkins Loan Program saddled individual schools with debt -- nationwide -- and campuses are working to recoup that money.
The story has met with some pushback online: Why would we cover this? Why did we name the ex-student? Etc.
So Isaac and online editor Michael Abernethy sat down to talk about the process behind the story, the questions we had, and the rules we follow to determine and report news. (Yes, there are rules, and a lot of them about when and why we could withold someone's name in a public record or public process.)
We hope this gives you a little more insight into how we operate. Thanks.