Students should earn involvement
Issue date: 4/23/04 Section: Opinion
The president of a university is expected to guide an institution to new levels of excellence.
That's a pretty important job description, and with SRU searching for its next leader, students should have a say in the decision. After all, what is a university without students?
The search committee has selected the final six candidates to be considered for the presidency and these individuals will be on campus for interviews in the following week. One might think the students would want to know who their potential president could be when they return in the fall.
Two different open forums will be available as question-and-answer sessions for interested students, faculty or community members. With sufficient time, students might be able to form intelligent, well thought out questions, of which they would like answered in order to trust a candidate as a potential president.
However, the candidates' names are being withheld until the day before their interview, therefore making it nearly impossible for the students who care to be informed about the candidate. It's almost as if the university doesn't care what students think.
But that may not be the case - maybe students don't deserve a chance to be involved. It is questionable whether more students would have shown up had they been given more time to research candidates. We at The Rocket feel students shouldn't expect to be involved in the process, given students' track record of prior participation in various events.
In recent campus events, students have proved to be apathetic about the outcomes. For example, in the SGA elections, 18 percent of the campus voted. Not bad, but where was the other 82 percent?
The first presidential candidate interview was on Wednesday with Interim President Robert Smith. While there were many people in attendance, there probably weren't more than 10 students present.
If the student body expects to be included in important decisions like selecting a new president, they must prove worthy by being involved. By participating throughout the year, students would have a better argument for their right to contribute.
That's a pretty important job description, and with SRU searching for its next leader, students should have a say in the decision. After all, what is a university without students?
The search committee has selected the final six candidates to be considered for the presidency and these individuals will be on campus for interviews in the following week. One might think the students would want to know who their potential president could be when they return in the fall.
Two different open forums will be available as question-and-answer sessions for interested students, faculty or community members. With sufficient time, students might be able to form intelligent, well thought out questions, of which they would like answered in order to trust a candidate as a potential president.
However, the candidates' names are being withheld until the day before their interview, therefore making it nearly impossible for the students who care to be informed about the candidate. It's almost as if the university doesn't care what students think.
But that may not be the case - maybe students don't deserve a chance to be involved. It is questionable whether more students would have shown up had they been given more time to research candidates. We at The Rocket feel students shouldn't expect to be involved in the process, given students' track record of prior participation in various events.
In recent campus events, students have proved to be apathetic about the outcomes. For example, in the SGA elections, 18 percent of the campus voted. Not bad, but where was the other 82 percent?
The first presidential candidate interview was on Wednesday with Interim President Robert Smith. While there were many people in attendance, there probably weren't more than 10 students present.
If the student body expects to be included in important decisions like selecting a new president, they must prove worthy by being involved. By participating throughout the year, students would have a better argument for their right to contribute.
