On March 7, members of the executive board of the Student Government Association were invited to a Faculty Senate meeting to share student concerns.
These conversations are especially crucial with changes happening within the college around the major program restructuring and a new information system that is being put in place. Additionally, outside the college, the Trump administration is threatening DEI programming and student protestors, forcing colleges and universities to choose between their students and federal funding.
It was the first time that members of the SGA had been invited to a Faculty Senate meeting. Students shared how important it was for the college to engage with them in relevant, new ways.
For instance, SGA makes official college emails more digestible and accessible to the larger student body, which is a sign that the college’s internal messaging is confusing and not presented in a way that students can understand some of the changes.
I’Ja Wright, student representative to the Board of Trustees, said that students appreciate posters and where to find them around campus.
Jenna Davis, SGA president, suggested that faculty help students better understand what is happening at the college. After all, students are more likely to listen than read their email.
Faculty often tell us that students don’t read emails. At the Chronicle, we are very aware of this, which is why we report on important information that the college distributes by email to students. We use communication tools we’ve learned in our classes.
We don’t always succeed either. We know that many of our readers engage with us only on social media and don’t read all of the reporting we offer on our website. Stacks of our latest print issue are still in the newspaper boxes around campus.
But we’re trying to meet students, a core part of our audience, where they are. And we’ll keep trying to reach our readers, through podcasts, video, social media, and even print with new ideas.
The college needs to do the same.
Copy edited by Trinity Balboa
