OUR OPINION: This type of forum helps people understand issues and should be adapted for issues students care about.
The University is holding its fourth annual budget forum today and Thursday in Erdahl-Cloyd theater.
Students and faculty will be able to ask Larry Nielsen, provost, and Charles Leffler, vice chancellor for finance and business, questions about the University’s budget and how current events might affect certain departments.
This forum gives students an opportunity to ask top administrators questions about the budget, and the University needs to do more to bring students to these discussions. But most students have other issues they place a higher priority on than the budget. The University should adopt a similar type of forum in which students can discuss issues like student fees and tailgating with administrators who can make real changes.
Leffler said the budget forum allows for people to learn the basics about the University’s budget. It also gives people who are affected by budget changes an opportunity to understand the effects of recent budget adjustments.
This sort of forum gives students and faculty the opportunity to understand how the recent state-mandated, two percent reduction in the University’s budget will impact specific departments and facilities on campus. It also gives students an opportunity to talk to senior University administrators.
Students deserve to have easy access to both the basic information about issues like student fees or tailgating and the administrators responsible for making relevant policies.
If students feel they cannot access senior administrators, then they will have no reason to believe their concerns will have any effect on policy. The University should create similar forums where students can directly address administrators on issues that matter to students.
At the very least, events like the University Budget Forum allow students to get a basic understanding of existing policy and give them the opportunity to talk to administrators responsible for these policies.
Leffler said the key to making the Budget Forum a success was to get the people who knew the most about a specific issue or topic to organize the event.
Administrators should respect student opinion when making decisions. Getting the proper feedback is important, and giving students more direct access to officials responsible for changing policy is a necessary step.
