Students selected to serve on the Transition Advisory Team’s research, development, technology and operations subcommittees say their input is deserved, and they hope to use their opportunity to make a difference.
The Transition Advisory Team appointed one student to serve on the technology and operation subcommittee and two students to serve on the research and development committee. The students will pitch their ideas for the reorganized LSU system, and those suggestions should flow back to the Transition Advisory Team and the Board of Supervisors.
Mass communication senior and Student Government President Taylor Cox is the sole student member of the technology and operations subcommittee, and his goal is to improve communication efficiency between the satellite campuses and the flagship.
“I want to ensure the campus stays up to date with things like servers and possessing info,” Cox said. “I know we are currently doing the best we can, but we are behind and need to catch up.”
Cox said he knows most of the students on the Transition Advisory Board and thinks they can do their jobs effectively if allowed to play a role on the committees.
“The students selected are bold, outspoken leaders who will stand up for what’s right,” Cox said. “But we have been told the students are the ones who matter, yet we have not been shown that.”
Cox said he was happy to be nominated by Vice Chancellor for Student Life and Enrollment Kurt Keppler, but wants students to have more input in the transition process.
“I am appreciative to be able to represent the student body, but I wish more students could sit in on the committee,” Cox said. “We pay more than 60 percent of the budget so we should have a seat at the table. We basically pay for the table.”
Geography graduate student Rebekah Jones is on the research and discovery subcommittee and said she hopes to make the University more research-friendly and cutting-edge.
“The committee will consolidate resources within LSU and look for joint project opportunities to save money,” Jones said. “The main problem is that we have no control over state funding. The solution will be to pool resources and work with private individuals with money. We are trying to open doors to new projects.”
Jones said she was surprised she was selected on the committee and hopes she can make a difference.
“I hope it is not a bureaucratic move, and they actually use us on the committees,” Jones said. “I’m looking forward to seeing the organization of the committee. It is discouraging that when I got here half the administration left.”
Jones said she is unsure who nominated her, but said she was selected for her background in coast and fisheries and knowledge of the administration.
Charisma Edwards, electrical engineering Ph.D. candidate and second member of the research and discovery committee, was unavailable for comment.
“It is discouraging that when I got here half the administration left.”
“We pay more than 60 percent of the budget so we should have a seat at the table. We basically pay for the table.”
