Through many interactions with students, it became apparent to us that students were unaware of Student Life and the Washburn Student Government Association. Each of these offices are important to campus and seek to help students with their experience at Washburn.
Due to a lack of knowledge, students miss out on the opportunity to use these two resources on campus and help them solve issues they may be experiencing.
Student Life in particular is a huge resource for students as their duties are to act as facilitators helping students resolve conflicts and call attention to issues.“The mission of Washburn University Student Life is to educate students, engage the community and enrich the Washburn experience.” We know Student Life is lacking several points of their mission.
Engagement is an aspect on campus we rarely see on campus. The two faculty members over Student Life are often seen on their phones during important events or meetings. Students have called attention to this amongst each other and directly for example, during the Black Student Union protest in fall 2022, WSGA meetings and the Provost interviews with students present.
It is understood that the phones may be used as a way of taking notes, but to many students that is not how it comes across. Much like students in a classroom, it’s important to set the phone aside, listen and engage.
We rely on Student Life to be fully aware of the issues students are facing by providing their undivided attention, asking questions and getting to the root of students’ thoughts. An engaged faculty willing to pull students aside for their opinions may also help them feel heard and spread the word about how Student Life is here to help.
Additionally, some students find it difficult to resolve issues through Student Life. With the amount of steps it takes to get issues resolved efficiently, some feel that their problems are not being heard or dealt with properly. Student Life may benefit from a larger team to ensure that situations are handled quickly.
Faculty from Student Life also work with the Washburn Student Government Association.
WSGA is a student-led organization that is over the student activity fee. This means they have access to thousands in funding and allocates that to organizations on campus as well as other things. It has come to our attention that though WSGA has faculty advisors from Student Life, the funding is not monitored at all. This means that any funding WSGA received or spent, is not really known to the advisors.
After gaining more students on campus, many are unaware of WSGA and what it is that they do for the student body. Every Wednesday WSGA holds open meetings, which often lack student attendance. These meetings are not made known or advertised to students on campus.
As leaders on campus we feel it’s necessary to be sure that the student body is aware of the plans within WSGA as they affect students directly. Students would benefit greatly from the interaction they receive from WSGA if they were more well known. With the proper advertising about what WSGA is and all that they do, they could provide students more opportunities to get engaged with them and the campus as a whole.
