Student leaders across campus brainstormed together to find the top 10 issues on campus at STAR Summit April 24.
The event has been hosted by Student Affairs every spring to help bring together leaders from every student organization on campus to build community, plan the student activity calendar for the next academic year, and identify issues that could use improvement on campus. The issues are ranked into the “Top Ten” list and given to Student Government Association and university administration to help inform them about the things that matter to students.
“Having an activity like this is tremendously valuable,” said Chance Johnson, SGA president. “Being on this small campus and being able to get all the student leaders into one room and have them talk about issues is something that not a lot of campus get to do.”
During STAR Summit, student leaders are given copies of student satisfaction surveys to look at and consider the responses. After, they brainstorm with their designated groups and write down a list of issues they think are the most important. Then each group presents their list to the other groups and explain why they decided on these issues.
After the presentations, every student is given 12 dots to place on the issues they think are the most important and need attention. By doing this, the list is narrowed down into the 10 items that students care the most about.
The Top Ten for 2015 are:
- Sodexo’s contract with university food services is too strict. Sodexo is the university food service provider. Student leaders at STAR Summit said the contract results in individual students and organizations paying too much for meals and catering. The contract also prohibits any outside food vendors on campus without permission from Sodexo.
2. University administration is not transparent enough. At the event, student leaders said they don’t think they’re involved in decisions university administration makes regarding student life. Prioritization was a concern because the full report was not released to students. Prioritization is the process where university officials can see where money is being spent in every department and recommend changes to budgets.
“The university transparency is indicates of a lot of things,” Johnson said. “Mainly that it means more needs to be done to inform students about what it going on in administration.”
3. University budget is not transparent. Student leaders discussed how there is not a personal itemized list of where university fees are going on BlueLink where students can see.
“Just knowing where your money is going when you have those specific fees is reassuring,” said Jacob Overling, business administration junior and Phi Gamma Delta president. “I think that having something like this would be helpful for students who have questions about where the money is going.”
4. Wi-Fi is not adequate across campus. This issue was listed as number two on the 2014 Top Ten List.
“Having the same issues on the list multiple years is an issue in itself,” Johnson said. “We really need to be taking care of the issues so that we aren’t running into the same problems over and over again.”
5. Parking permits are too expensive, and parking should be re-evaluated to better accommodate on-campus residents. Parking permit prices were raised from $100 to $150 before the beginning of the 2014-15 academic year. This issue was listed as number four on the 2014 Top Ten, but the issue called for a permit that allowed the holder to park anywhere on campus.
6. Meal plans are too expensive when cost per meal is calculated.
7. The police department’s behavior is unprofessional. Student leaders said the police department has a slow response time when they are called to unlock doors or help with car issues.
“I just know that when I come in to work on some projects and call them to let me in I sometimes have to wait 20 to 30 minutes,” said Sam Henry, mass communications senior. “It’s been an issue.”
8. On campus housing is too expensive, heat and air-conditioning are not well regulated, there is mold in the buildings, poor service in the housing office, and laundry rooms are not adequate.
9. Meal plan usage rules cost individual students too much money because the meals cannot rollover, students cannot swipe their Starcard for friends and family, and meal usage in the caf is restricted to only three meals a day. This issue was ranked as number five on the 2014 Top Ten.
10. Alvin’s is too slow, unsanitary, and too expensive. Student leaders at STAR Summit said they can see Alvin’s employees sometimes leaning on counters where food is prepared and not wiping them down.
“I look back there and see workers leaning on the counter on their food and just think do I really want food now,” said Daniel Grix, entertainment business senior and Lambda Chi Alpha president. “Working in the food industry in high school I know that it wouldn’t be allowed in normal restaurants.”
The list will be given to SGA and university administration to try to come up with plans on how to resolve the issues.
Johnson said he hopes that good things can come from the top 10 list.
“The SGA cabinet and I will be meet and try to decided what we need to work on and where we can gather resources to solve some of these issues,” Johnson said. “I want students to hold SGA accountable for issues. If anyone ever has any concerns that they want addressed, I urge them to come to the SGA office and tell us.”
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