Incongruous with the University, which is well-known for activism, there is an arena where only superficial steps are taken to consider the will of students.
Students have what is perhaps the biggest stake in who is hired at the University. Recognizing this, many search processes culminate in public forums supposedly designed to get student response on final candidates.
Unfortunately, these forums have a tendency to be held on dates when very few students are able – or willing – to attend, counteracting their very purpose.
Two of the three sessions with candidates for vice president for student affairs took place during Finals Week of spring term, when most students were preparing for or taking tests – and many were gone from campus altogether.
Further obscuring the search from public view was the decision by the provost’s office to forbid candidates from talking to campus media, effectively ensuring that most students would be unable to get enough information to provide feedback on a position designed to support students.
The position was subsequently filled in mid-July by Robin Holmes, the interim vice president for student affairs at the time.
More recently, three public forums with the finalists for the Department of Public Safety director were held in late July.
The DPS director search showed positive steps, possibly because ASUO President Emily McLain sat on the search committee. Media contact with the candidates was allowed, and the public forums were held when at least a few, although not many, students were on campus and not taking tests.
Nevertheless, more could have been done to involve students.
Given the generally disparaging attitude toward DPS officers on campus, it seems that students might be interested in attending these sessions, especially in light of candidates’ desires to arm DPS officers with guns.
By waiting only one month, the committee could have drawn participants from the law school, which begins its semester Aug. 20.
If the organizers of these forums wish to give an impression of anything other than merely paying lip service to the concept of student input, the obvious step is to hold all future public forums on dates chosen to maximize possible student attendance.
The best policy would be to wait until after fall term begins, but if a decision must be made during the summer months, search committees should use technology to allow more students access to position candidates. Allowing the opportunity to ask questions over the Internet would allow greater student participation.
Making this a policy would be a small step to show students that decision makers at DPS and the University in general truly value the opinions of the students they serve.