Thursday evening, a reporter for The Daily Eastern News was unable to attend an event being hosted by the Student Accounting Society and Beta Alpha Psi, an honors fraternity for financial information students and professionals.

The event being hosted was listed on Eastern public event calendar with a very simple description:

“Join Beta Alpha Psi and Student Accounting Society for a presentation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement!

Professional dress is required.”

As immigration and ICE are hot topics in the country, our editors felt an event like this would be good to cover. And it would have been, had it been open to the public.

However, when our reporter and photographer showed up to cover the event, they were informed they would not be allowed in because an agreement was signed with the “federal government and Immigration and Customs Enforcement” saying that no press would be allowed in, according to Nicolas Robinson, Director of Accountancy.

While we are not shocked that the federal government would be less than welcoming to the press, we find it disheartening that the event was so closed off. Events like that are a fantastic way to get conversations started about national events on a local level, unfortunately however, that conversation will not be had here at Eastern by anyone.

We are not mad or upset that we were unable to attend but disappointed in the lost opportunity that students will not be able to have now. We hope in the future, no agreements are made that keep students out of the loop.