About seven months after former President Paul W. Ferguson resigned, students continue to bring up concerns about the transparency of the university's Board of Trustees.
Senators in the Student Government Association plan to address the issue – potentially with legislation.
During SGA's first ever town hall meeting tonight, Daniel Wils, a representative from the Progressive Student Association, used his time at the microphone to address his problems with how the university is ran, starting with the resignation of Ferguson and his signing of the nondisclosure agreement.
Wils, a senior philosophy major, also focused on the university's acceptance of the Charles Koch Foundation grant the university received in March, in partnership with alumnus John “Papa John” Schnatter. The grant is being used to fund the John H. Schnatter Institute for Entrepreneurship, but students also worry about its connection with the billionaire Koch brothers.
Wils said it could impact the school's academic integrity.
“I would like to thank you guys for listening and hearing us out, because this is the first time it's happened,” said Wils, referring to the limited number of opportunities he said students have had to speak at.
Although the Board of Trustees let students speak at the meeting following Ferguson's resignation, typically there is no public comment portion of those meetings.
Five students showed up with red squares pinned to their shirts to show their disapproval of university policies, including Travis Muller, a senior dietetics and nutrition major.
“Stop for a second, consider the implications of the (Koch) contract and ask yourself, 'is this the direction we want to go?'... If there's any other way, the community has to stand up,” Muller said, “And say something, because this is academia as we know it, and this is truth as we know it.”
When concerns were brought up during the summer's presidential search firms, Matt Momper, the chair of the search committee, said the university's academic integrity was not questioned by the decision to accept the grant.
SGA senator Ben Slighton said he has met with numerous students already and will meet with Melissa Ginotti, the assistant vice president for Student Affairs, later this week to work towards potential solutions about university transparency that SGA can feasibly implement.
He just joined SGA at the end of last year, partially because of Ferguson's resignation and Slighton's desire for more accountability on campus.
The concerns he said students have voiced so far include:
- Lack of representation in administration
- Limited opportunities to be heard
- Mishandling of money
- Communication issues with the administration, especially the Board of Trustees
- A desire for more opportunities for meetings like the town hall meeting
Among the complaints about transparency, students also brought up concerns at the town hall meeting about the lack of bike paths, transportation availability for women at night and gender-neutral housing.
SGA is in the beginning stages of creating legislation regarding the later.
“We're glad (students) spoke up,” said SGA president James Wells. “We wish we could have more students, but as the semester and academic year goes on, we know more issues are going to pop up.”
SGA will have its first senate meeting Sept. 7, and there are still senate positions open for interested students.
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