Effective communication is vital to our campus community. When Lisa Lynch stepped up this year to fill in as the interim president of the university, her office made an announcement that they would be holding regular town hall discussions with students and administrators. Additionally, her office announced that they would be inviting a number of students to a series of lunches at the faculty club to dine with her. These initiatives were intended to better communication between the university and the student body. However, I would assert that the results so far haven’t been optimal.
At the town hall discussions, there are issues of turnout, and this results in a decrease of event quality. At the most recent town hall Wednesday night, fewer than 20 students attended, many of whom were campus media members. The lack of students in attendance can have multiple consequences.
First, the lack of students present lends a bad taste to the event. If so few students show up, administrators may believe that there is a lack of interest in student’s desire to know more, and could conclude that such events aren’t necessary. This would be a bad precedent to set. Forums where students can air their grievances and learn the reasons behind big decisions are necessary to good functioning of a university founded on principles of social justice.
Second, the lack of students also leads to a lack of substantive questions. At a university of more than 3,000, there are conceivably hundreds of students who would want to ask a question to their administrators, but simply aren’t present to do so. If only 20 are in attendance, what important things are there that need to be asked that, resultantly, aren’t being answered? Beyond ensuring the continuation of such an open forum, larger student turnout also ensures that a wide range of questions are asked and a wide range of viewpoints are expressed.
At the lunches with the president, another dilemma of effective communication is encountered. These lunches are held at the Faculty Club, with white tablecloths and the best food prepared on campus available, all in a fairly isolated environment. Why aren’t these meetings held in one of the dining halls? If the president seeks to dine with students and talk with them about their views on the university, these meetings should be held in a location iconic of the students themselves.
Moreover, the university could take additional steps toward maintaining an open, active back-and-forth channel of communication with students. Many students are no doubt unable to attend town halls and many of the official “open communication” events that are held, so video recordings of the event should be made generally available to students online for their own review. Campus media can report on what goes on, but if the university seeks to step it up on communicating effectively, it needs to make an effort to go above and beyond in allowing these events to be accessible.
Effective communication between the university and the student body is incredibly important. Not only does communication answer questions, but communication also does the very important task of preventing misunderstanding. Misunderstanding breeds contempt, and contempt breeds bad feelings and ensures difficulty in future dealings. If everyone talks to each other, they’ll surely understand each other a little better. If the university makes a poor decision without immediately realizing it, and they clearly hear about it from the student body, it may be able to quickly and effectively deliver a solution. If the student body misinterprets a university motive and requests clarification or explanation, such a response may be re-tuned before damage is done and mistrust is sown. Effective communication is the silver bullet for improving the quality of campus operations and university education and must constantly be continued and bolstered for the betterment of us all.
