Students will have the chance to roast a university official during the second annual Sponsors Making A Change Week.
SMAC Week is a series of events from Feb. 25 to March 1, hosted by the Student Philanthropy Committee. The event’s purpose is to improve donor and student relations.
SMAC Week’s events this year include free cookies outside of the cafeteria, a comedy roast of Levi Harrel, director of student engagement and an open conversation event with President Martha Burger about financial matters.
The roast of Levi Harrel was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Feb. 27 in the Great Hall, but was canceled, said Mackenzie Jones, dance senior and student engagement coordinator of Student Philanthropy Committee.
“A lot of students don’t know how much money comes from donor support,” Jones said. “Allowing students to understand that donors impact our university so much gives the donors more recognition.”
The week will end March 1 with a conversation with Burger. The event is open to all students, and free lunch will be provided.
Trae Trousdale, mass communications sophomore and president of Student Philanthropy Committee, said Burger’s Dec. 20 email about the increase in tuition was inspiration for the open conversation, and that the student body should have an open forum to ask questions about financial changes.
“With the tuition increase for next year, we thought it was really important to allow President Burger to come before the student body and ask her questions,” Trousdale said. “It’s not the best thing to get right before Christmas. I wasn’t a fan, and we all have questions.”
In addition to SMAC Week, Student Philanthropy Committee also handles matters like the senior class gift.
“I think the greatest benefit is an awareness of donors,” Trousdale said. “Donors can sometimes seem like scary people. We’re talking about people who sit on our board of trustees and people our buildings are named after, and it’s not bad at all. They really are just trying to play an active role in our lives as students. In order for them to get a full view of campus, we got to bring campus to them.”
Student Philanthropy Committee may be found on Facebook as “Oklahoma City University Student Philanthropy Committee,” or Instagram as “okcustuphil.”
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