Shortle: IUSA election 'most important'

Since 1948, IU Student Association members have had the responsibility of representing the student body in University governance. Today, that voice is being threatened, said IUSA President Alex Shortle.\nShortle said students now participate in approximately 120 University committees, search and screen committees, and the Committee for Fee Review.\nHe said recently there has been discussion among administrators about lessening student involvement in these committees.\n"The president wants to make the University more agile," Shortle said. "(To do that you) decrease the size of committees. Who's the first person to eliminate? The students."\nShortle said the last time an IUSA election was so important was about 30 years ago, when the University was restructured.\n"My understanding is that was the last time there were serious shifts in the University," he said. "The next three or four administrations will have to deal with the repercussions of these shifts."\nUniversity Chancellor Ken Gros Louis said the University was restructured in 1974. That restructuring resulted in the linkage of IU-Bloomington and IU-Purdue University Indianapolis. Now the schools are being separated again. \nGros Louis said he does not think the current restructuring will affect IUSA significantly. He said he thinks the threat comes more from people who believe the student voice is too big.\n"I have certainly heard other administrators say that they believe student involvement in campus governance is too great," he said in an e-mail. \nDespite what other administrators say, Gros Louis said in an e-mail he thinks that "at the very least, (student involvement) should stay the same and certainly not decrease. ... The student voice is very important if we are to be a University community. Students bring perspective to committees that faculty and staff cannot."\nShortle said he initially realized this threat at a May 6, 2005, board of trustees meeting, at which the trustees decided to combine student fees and tuition. \nIn the past, Shortle said students, not trustees, voted upon the student fee increase. Previously, students chose a 4.9 percent increase. Last May, the trustees chose the student fee increase, capping it at 1.5 percent.\n"The cap is a clear sign (that there's a threat)," Shortle said. "(The trustees) are managing the student process, doing our work for us."\nShortle added that the Commmittee for Fee Review had existed for a while without any issues, until two years ago, when the athletics fee was enacted.\n"The president tried to put through the athletics fee by bypassing the process," he said. "The first year it was just enacted (without going through the process); the second year it went through the process, but was enacted anyway. Had they gone through the CFR (originally), I think (the CFR) would have approved it."\nHoosier presidential candidate and junior Betsy Henke agreed that student involvement is essential to the University, citing her experience on the College of Arts and Sciences dean search and screen committee.\n"I think it's incredibly important that students serve," she said. "It's important for the student body as a whole that there is someone there."\nAssistant Dean of Students Steve Veldkamp said when he was interviewing at IU, he noticed the students on his search and screen committee genuinely cared about the University.\n"A lot of other institutions advertise that students are involved ... but IU proves it by the sheer number of committees, student organizations and individual opportunities that the campus has to offer," he said.\nIn fact, IU has so many opportunities for student involvement, that Shortle, Gros Louis and Veldkamp say they think IU students are often better prepared for life after graduation than students at most other universities, including Ivy League schools.\n"Our students do much better outside of here because we develop them so well," Shortle said.\nGros Louis agreed, saying, in an e-mail, that he'd heard from alumni that "their level of student involvement prepared them very well for the 'real world.'"\nRed Hot presidential candidate Lenny Weiss said he thinks the threat comes from the way the administration perceives the students. He said he fears that if the administrations loses confidence in students, opportunities for student involvement might not arise in the future. \n"Some previous (IUSA) campaigns got out of hand," he said. "We are not looking credible anymore. There'll be a presidential search and screen committee; we don't want to lose those opportunities."\nHenke stressed that students involved in these committees need to do their homework.\n"For those students that do (serve on committees), it's important that you're prepared to tackle them," she said. "If (the administration) doesn't think students are doing anything, it makes sense that they'll be phased out. It's up to the students to step up and come prepared."\nVeldkamp said IU has a great tradition of student involvement that's important to maintain.\n"I just think that IU is known as the birthplace for student affairs," Veldkamp said.