The Student Senate is preparing to reinstate the press secretary position to ensure students are kept up-to-date on the Senate’s activities.
The press secretary is appointed at the discretion of the Senate president and must be approved by the Senate. The position has been unfilled for the past two years.
According to the Senate constitution, the press secretary is responsible for writing press releases on Senate meetings and distributing them to media outlets, updating the Senate Web site and advertising events.
Senate President Kelli Rogers said the Senate is rethinking the position and reviewing what role the press secretary should play.
“The purpose of the press secretary will be to communicate with students and help the media get information on Senate activities without having to go to the meetings,” she said. “The press secretary is a good way to distribute information.”
According to Rogers, this is another means for Student Government to increase transparency and is not being done because SG is not receiving enough publicity.
“The press secretary will publicize activities, keep the site up-to-date and prepare news releases within 24 hours of senate meetings,” Rogers said.
The minutes maintained by the Senate are not available to the public until two weeks after the meetings.
Greg Doucette, Senate president from 2006 to 2008, kept a press secretary for only one of his terms.
“The job was to put together a listing of what Senate did and distribute it to campus and local media,” he said. “The Technician had a reporter, but he couldn’t stay for the meetings and eventually stopped coming. The press secretary condensed the information for a quick summarization of the meeting.”
According to Doucette the utility of the press secretary diminished when the media started showing up again and also as SG became more personally involved with the student body.
During Doucette’s administration the Senate would frequently send notices to students thought the list-serve and hold persisting programs like meals with the student body president to reach out to and get feedback from students.
Doucette said the current administration could benefit from having a press secretary.
“SG needs to make sure all the facts are out there, especially in light of Talley and everything Senate has been dealing with,” Doucette said. “But even with a press secretary, the student body and Senate presidents should still be out there interacting with students anyway.”
Sen. Brianne Bower has been appointed by Rogers for consideration for the press secretary position.
Bower said her highest priority is advertising and reaching out to students through the Internet, the fastest resource and the one most used by students.
“We need some sort of mass communication. There can never be too much communication,” she said. “Having a statement out faster is extremely crucial.”
Bower said students expressed a need for more communication due to backlash from Talley and SG required an outlet through which they can express their perspective.
“[During Talley] there were issues where facts were distorted or misinterpreted and sometimes media outlets weren’t covering everything as much as we’d like,” she said. “The Technician appeared to be more negative and it seemed like the Technician and SG were butting heads.”
Bower said the position will allow SG to get its views to students more accurately.
“With the press secretary, Student Government can have their say from their point of view,” Bower said.
