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By Sharron Hannon
What are the odds of gathering a group of students--voluntarily--to discuss the future of the  University of Georgia for four straight hours?
Surprisingly good.
In response to an invitation from Student Government Association president Tricia Page, a senior public relations major from Roswell, some 75 students--SGA members and representatives of several other campus organizations--showed up in the reception room on the top floor of Rusk Hall on a Tuesday night to register opinions on how to build a better UGA.
The discussion was among those being held across campus as part of the institution-wide strategic-planning process, which got under way in February. “I’ve really learned a lot being part of the weekly meetings of the Strategic Planning Advisory Group,” says Page, “and I wanted to be sure students were heard as part of the strategic-planning process.”
Don Eastman, vice president for strategic planning, was happy to spring for sandwiches and chips and to supply the facilitators for the discussion, Wes Wynens and Steve Dempsey of the Fanning Leadership Center, who have led similar sessions with a variety of audiences over the past several months.
“Working with the students was a wonderful experience,” says Dempsey. “We enjoyed their insightfulness and candor.”
And there was no shortage of ideas. Talking in small groups, then logging their thoughts into notebook computers linked to a projection screen at the front of the room, the group easily came up with more than 100 suggestions to improve the student experience. The ideas ranged from the immediate and practical--a dry cleaning service in the Tate Student Center--to the more long-range and costly--new apartment-like residence halls near the Ramsey Student Center.
A few sparked reactions, including occasional applause, as the list was reviewed and the authors of the comments explained what they meant. “More bald-headed black men,” for example, turned out to be a shorthand statement in support of recruiting a more diverse faculty.
Agreement on some comments was far from unanimous. A proposal that fraternity and sorority rush be deferred from before classes start in the fall until later in the academic year met with general approval but stirred some debate. Supporters felt students should first have time to get settled on campus and develop other friendships and associations, but at least one person felt that “those who are going to choose to isolate themselves within the Greek system will do that anyway.”
How to handle minority recruitment was another issue eliciting varied opinions. Some students felt more effort should be put into recruiting academically talented minority students (“not just athletes”), others argued for weighing socio-economic factors rather than race, and still others questioned whether any criteria other than academic merit should be used in the admissions process.
The next step, Page explained as the session drew to a close, is to take the 100-plus ideas and turn them into a strategic-planning document to present to the institutional Strategic Planning Advisory Group.
“We know we need to focus on four or five key objectives if we really want to see them implemented,” Page says.
Working with her on that process will be SGA vice president Corey Stern, a senior in history from Port Jefferson, N.Y., and additional volunteers.
The group plans to also share the document with various campus administrators, some of whom--like new student affairs vice president Richard Mullendore and housing director Jim Day--sat in on the four-hour discussion session, then stayed afterwards to talk further with some of the participants.
“The important thing so far,” says Page, “is that we’ve got students thinking and talking about the university’s future.”
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