About once or twice a month, shared governance committees meet to discuss plans for campus projects and changes. Topics discussed range from student health to building expansions and improvements, along with campus climate and academic planning. Each committee serves a unique purpose, but every committee seats a number of students who serve to represent the student voice alongside university staff, academic staff and faculty. The work done on shared governance committees is extremely important, but very much is unknown by students not directly involved in the process.
For example, most students don’t know that there is a shared governance committee on Recreational Sports, which has been working on planning and making decisions for the new fields and building construction that is happening on the Lakeshore and Southeast sides of campus. However, the Rec Sports Board is just one of the many committees on campus that is currently working hard to make positive changes.
For example, the Healthcare Advisory Board has recently worked on advertising and informing campus about the availability of the second dosage of the Meningococcal B vaccine. While the second shot was originally planned to be administered to all students, there are now only enough shots for students without healthcare or who cannot afford the shot on their own. More information is available through University Health Services. Additionally, student committee representative Jordan Madden is working toward getting free feminine products in campus bathrooms, starting with Bascom Hall.
Another example is the Budget Committee, which I currently serve on as the undergraduate student representative. The committee was brand new this fall. Our goal is to inform campus about university budget changes and procedures, as well as to make financial aspects of the university, like tuition spending, more transparent.
Other committees are also hard at work. The Ethnic Studies Committee is working on developing and improving ethnic studies classes, while also evaluating teaching assistants and gauging professors on their opinions of campus climate; the Transportation Committee is focusing on controlling legal and illegal moped parking; the Committee on Undergraduate Recruitment, Admissions and Financial Aid is focusing on prioritizing minority, in-state students and diverse enrollment; the Dean of Students Advisory Committee meets often to discuss prominent topics, most recently regarding sexual assault.
All this work, though, is completely overlooked by the majority of students. I often hear students complaining about wanting a say on academic changes, or how they have no say or knowledge of construction changes. The issue is, all of these decisions do have student input through shared governance. The problem may be that appointed students do not communicate with others about the work their committee is doing, or perhaps non-appointed students don’t have an interest until decisions are already made.
I hope going forward, students will have more say through shared governance, as well as make bigger strides toward better communicating the work done in shared governance committees with students who are not directly involved, as we all are the individuals most impacted by campus changes.
Finally, I hope that students who do not know what shared governance is have learned a little bit and acknowledge that it is an extremely important process on campus. If you would like to get involved, you can always check out committee openings online.
Mara is a sophomore majoring in Political Science with a certificate in Digital Studies. She is also the campaign director for ASM’s Shared Governance Committee. What do you think about shared governance on campus? Do you think ASM should make it easier for students to be involved? Or, should students make it their responsibility to be informed? Let us know your thoughts on the issue at opinion@dailycardinal.com.
