Student Government to focus on student involvement

Student Government is looking to implement some big changes at UT this year, including creating committees and programs aimed at providing student perspectives on more that happens on campus. They plan to increase students’ ability to voice concerns about construction, increasing direct outreach to students, increasing retention, sustainability and student morale.

Student Government members attended the Master Plan forums earlier this month, where possible changes were presented. In particular, the 10-year master plan which would include moving classes from University Hall to Rocket Hall, renovating the Student Union and getting rid of Lot 10 to expand the flatlands.

“Those ideas were brought up by Facilities and Construction,” wrote Cameron Forsythe, Student Government vice president. “Due to this, one of our senators is proposing the creation of an Ad-Hoc to compile and submit the opinions of students. We will collect opinions from as many students as possible and reflect their views in our perspective.”

An Ad-Hoc committee is a committee put together for a specific task that dissolves after the completion of that task. The committee will solely discuss the 10-year master plan and provide feedback from a student perspective, Forsythe wrote.

In order to increase outreach to students, Student Government plans to hold a town meeting.

“By town hall meeting, we are planning an event where we invite any and all students to attend and provide their input regardless of if they are or are not involved in a student organization,” Forsythe wrote.

Currently, student government does direct outreach through online surveys that are shared with as many students as possible. Last year, 18 surveys were held with 3,418 students responding. This year, they are hoping to get even more responses in order to get a more holistic view of the student opinion, Forsythe wrote.

Another way to increase outreach to students is by making sure students are aware of Student Government.

“My main goal for this year is to implement a Student Government Ambassador Program. This program will work to serve several of my goals,” said Jimmy Russell, external affairs chairman. “The first is to increase student awareness of Student Government.”

Increasing retention and sustainability are also important goals for Student Government.

“We want to do everything we possibly can in order to increase retention and student success,” Forsythe wrote. “With this, we are going to try to help students understand what is expected of them as well as making sure the students know what resources they have available to them.”

According to Forsythe, the Student Government is still in the early stages of creating a more sustainable campus. They are considering the creation of a Sustainability Ad-Hoc to work with the Student Green Fund.

“We feel that sustainability is important because we not only need to think about the impact that our actions will have on ourselves and those currently enrolled at the university, but we must also consider how our current tendencies and actions will impact future students and the community in general,” Forsythe wrote.

To build student morale and a sense of community, Student Government plans to pair up organizations with similar goals Russell said. Student Government believes this will help the university as a whole.

“Increasing student morale is important because, while we are certainly a place to get a higher education, we are also much more than that,” Forsythe wrote. “With so much of college being about the entire experience and not simply being about attending classes and studying, we feel that we should promote an inclusive environment where we can all proudly say that we are Rockets.”