It all starts with communication — students, faculty, staff and administration must work together to accomplish goals.
Darrell Broussard, Student Government president, and Chancellor Mark Emmert said the University of Georgia is moving into the area of communication with students and with the off-campus community where LSU is lacking.
UGA learned the importance of communication at an early stage, when students voted to disband its student government organization in the late 1970s.
Richard Mullendore, UGA’s vice president of student affairs, said the organization reformed in the ’80s, but it has had ups and downs.
“Some years, leaders are elected to go against the administration,” Mullendore said. “Other years, we work together well and accomplish great things for students.”
Mullendore said UGA is fortunate to have positive and constructive student and campus leaders, but it is subject to change at any moment.
Dena Levitz, UGA student senator, also named communication as the number one goal, not only for her university, but all SEC schools.
“Student governments have to find out what is important on their campuses,” Levitz said. “We also have to let them know what we have accomplished.”
UGA’s student government was responsible for starting an online grade distribution database and textbook exchange. “The Key” is a tool many UGA students use to search grade distributions of particular instructors and courses.
Earlier this semester, the LSU Student Senate passed a resolution to have a grade distribution posted online in immolation of UGA’s database.
Currently, the Senate is waiting on feedback and approval from faculty, staff and administrators before students can use the distribution.
Mullendore said another important aspect of communication is getting out to students and showing them administrators care.
“It means a tremendous amount of effort,” Mullendore said. “I spend a lot of time out of office caring about students and being on their turf.”
In addition to its University administrators showing they care, Kathryn Baydala, editor-in-chief of UGA’s campus newspaper The Red and Black, said UGA’s current SG administration has been more active than in the past.
“Most students feel [SG officers] run to pad their résumés,” Baydala said. “This year, they are more active and more vocal on issues that represent students. In the past they weren’t active, and students didn’t feel they had a voice.”
Baydala said in years past, students did not protest or voice their own opinions on subjects that affected them.
Recently, UGA students have began protesting the possible military action in Iraq. Baydala attributed this rise in activism to an increase in student leadership and a heightened sense of social awareness.
The rise in activism also has shown itself in SG elections. Although in the last UGA SG election only 5,000 voted, the number of students voting is on the rise.
Levitz said SG holds rallies and passes out fliers to increase voter turnout.
“Our [UGA student] voter turnout is decent, but our goal always is to increase,” Levitz said. “The candidates do a good job of getting information out and having debates.”
In the recent LSU SG elections, approximately 1,000 students voted on college senators, and approximately 3,000 turned out in the spring 2002 SG presidential election.
Broussard said his administration should be jealous of UGA’s voter turnout.
In addition to SG elections, Mark Higgins, LSU SG vice president, said he would like to see students continually getting involved in the community and state in a conjunctive effort with Student Media and SG on political campaigns and debates.
Emmert said all administrations need to communicate better on campus and off campus to prospective students and to the people who support the University.
“We need to work together with student leadership, administrators and faculty to secure resources in order to be successful,” Emmert said.