IUSA Congress requests feedback

While students pay thousands of dollars every semester to attend IU, most do not have the opportunity to get together with the president of the University for a one-on-one chat about how they would like to see their dollars spent.\nBut students interested in expressing their opinions about University-related issues, such as the fate of the mandatory athletics fee or the possible increase in admissions standards, already have an often-untapped resource at their disposal: the IU Student Association Congress. \nBut the influence of that voice is only as strong as the student support behind it, said IUSA officials.\n"I wish that congress was more visible on campus," said Speaker of the House Laura Maul. "Our job is to be the student voice. We are basically just a vehicle of the student voice from the students to the administration." \nCourtney Thom, vice president of congress, said often students do not take advantage of this process.\n"We don't really get that many outside opinions," she said. "As it runs now, when it's just the congress, it runs efficiently, but it would be great to have more student input."\nEvery other Tuesday, 62 elected students meet in an attempt to provide a voice for the entire student body. Of these 62 representatives, 30 represent the student body by location -- 11 representatives from the residence halls, three from greek housing and 16 from off-campus housing. The remaining 31 representatives are broken down by academic schools.\nAt congressional meetings, members listen to the activity of IUSA executives, debate current issues affecting the students they represent and are asked to approve or reject legislation as a unified voice of the student body. \nCurrent issues facing congress include ending the controversial athletics fee. Athletics Director Rick Greenspan announced at the Sept. 16 board of trustees meeting that the athletics department plans to drop the mandatory $30 fee, but decrease the number of student seats available at basketball games and increase the price of student tickets by $4.\nIUSA will be working with the athletics department to give recommendations based on student input, said IUSA President Alex Shortle.\n"What we'd like to do more than anything is get the debate going," he said. "We certainly lobbied for a long time to get rid of this athletics fee and we finally got rid of it, and we believe that was the right thing to do. Now it's just an issue of what to do about losing seats in Assembly Hall and some other repercussions, which we knew were going to come."\nIUSA will also discuss students' opinions about raising admissions standards and the appointment of a new chancellor, Shortle said.\nThe congress' ability to speak on behalf of all students can implement change in the University, said Brian Clifford, chief justice of the IU Supreme Court.\n"When there are issues that students are concerned about, or suggestions of changes from the administration, which do you think would be more effective: a handful of students calling or e-mailing faculty members or administrators and complaining, or a resolution from the IUSA Congress saying 'The students of Indiana University want this to change?'" Clifford said in an e-mail interview. "The key is getting the input from the students and finding out what such concerns are."\nThough IUSA is considering using an electronic poll on its Web site for students to voice their opinions, Thom urges students interested in expressing their opinions on these issues to attend congressional meetings and speak with their representatives.\nStudents can also contact representatives by looking up their names and e-mail addresses on IUSA's Web site, www.indiana.edu/~iusa.\nStudents are invited to attend congress's next meeting, which will take place at 8:30 p.m. today in Room 211 of the Kelley School of Business.