Student Government leaders are planning regular town hall-style meetings as part of their efforts to inform students about events on campus. Neil Ballentine, a junior in biological sciences and town hall forum coordinator, said these meetings are designed to get students in touch with SG in order to address student problems, which may include athletic event tickets, campus safety and fee increases.
This is an admirable goal, but students and the Student Senate need to be more involved with these meetings. SG leaders need to find ways to get students to these town hall meetings and guarantee that senators will be present to answer to their constituents.
According to Ballentine, these town hall sessions are part of Student Body President Jay Dawkins’ efforts to get students involved with the campus and get solutions to students’ problems implemented quickly. Both Dawkins and Ballentine hope that these town hall meetings will establish a lasting forum for students and SG officials to address student concerns.
Ballentine said Senate members are not required to attend these town hall sessions.
Student Senate members need to be at these town hall meetings. Senators need to be ready to closely interact with their constituents and in a forum that gets students, SG members and various officials from the Raleigh Police Department, Raleigh City Council and similar agencies to discuss openly what problems students may face and how best to solve them. These town hall meetings can also improve accountability – students should be able to confront SG leaders and administrators about whether any actual changes accurately reflect the will of the student body.
Ballentine said there are issues with surveying students to determine what upcoming town hall meetings will focus on and publicizing the events. The Student Senate is ideal for solving these problems – it can delegate organizing a publicity campaign for the town halls and creating surveys to set the agenda for these forums.
Students have an opportunity to build a strong, open line of communication with SG officials and University administrators to discuss on-campus issues. The student body president is committed to this effort – the University administration needs to follow this example.
Student Senate members also need to make an effort to support this issue and prove that the pomp and circumstance surrounding their meetings is not just a mere performance, and students need to be prepared to stand up for the changes they want to see.
