After the EMU Budget Committee unanimously voted to remove funding from the Student Activities Resource Office in January, it was uncertain what would take the place of the campus leadership program.
ASUO Vice President-elect Ben Buzbee and a leadership team think they have found the answer.
Buzbee — with the help of an active student committee — is drafting a plan for a leadership development center to better inform students of leadership opportunities on campus after the SARO program is eliminated.
The SARO, often associated with the UO Cultural Forum, was designed to provide student leadership with opportunities. However, EMU student administrators thought the intentions of the group never panned out.
“The SARO was very unsuccessful,” EMU Board Chairwoman Christa Shively said.
She said the EMU Board saw problems in a lack of output from the group, and in students not being actively involvement.
“We found students passionate about leadership, but not passionate about SARO,” she said. “There was a lot of discontent.”
She said although the board could have continued to fund SARO and simply moved its office space away from the UO Cultural Forum, they instead opted to start from scratch and sever some associations to the previous program.
“For students wanting to get involved, it’s so important to have that resource,” said Megan Hughes a student on the committee drafting the center’s mission statement.
They hope to fund the leadership center with only some student fees and eventually let the program stand on its own financially with more independent funding.
This time around, people involved want to form a coalition involving not just student government, but the Residence Hall Association, the Greek system and other student leaders as well.
This primarily student group will be run without the help of former SARO coordinator Debra Martin. Her contract runs through Feb. 4, but she will not be working in the new leadership program. Her last day as SARO coordinator is June 30.
Right now, organizers are hammering out the details of what they want — and what they don’t — for students, while getting student suggestions for the program.
Buzbee said the EMU conducted a survey in the fall that examined what leadership opportunities students wanted to see. Students involved with the leadership program also conducted two brainstorming sessions with other students.
In the responses they have received, they have seen an overwhelming desire for more venues for leadership.
“The most dramatic was everyone who responded was interested in quality leadership in both the academic and practical sense and showed a lot of interest in almost all areas,” Shively said.
One of the team’s initial ideas is to create a leadership resource library with a network of current leadership opportunities and tips on running meetings and other student activities, Buzbee said.
The program is still in the planning stage, he said, but the group hopes to have it up and running by the 2003-04 school year.
Between now and then, the group will finalize the program’s mission statement and nail down the specifics of where to house the program and how to fund it.
They’re asking students to help them get the ball rolling.
“This program is fresh and student-driven,” Buzbee said. “We’re hoping to have some real motivated people involved on a large scale,” he said.
Anyone interested in being involved with the program can e-mail Shively at [email protected], Buzbee at [email protected] or call Buzbee at 346-0625.