Held every year by Asbury Student Congress (ASC), the Town Hall event is an opportunity for students on campus to voice their opinions on ways to improve the Asbury experience. For the reward of a free Hiccup drink, students were invited to fill out an online form and answer several questions.
The event was set up in the Student Center on November 13th , with all of the members of the Executive Cabinet (EC) there to answer questions. Lydia Roy, the Vice President of Student Intercultural Programs, said about the importance of the event, “EC holds a town hall every year to hear student voices and listen to the community. We want to be transparent and to be clear with what we are doing with their funds.”
A lot of the information from the event affects EC’s decision making. A variety of issues are brought to their attention, with everything from the cleanliness of campus to academic related problems being brought to light. Lauren Boye, the Vice President of Clubs and Congress Operations, said, “EC acts as a bridge to connect students to the university. Hearing student concerns helps us make decisions based on what students want and need.”
One of the students who participated, Jazmyn Lorentzen, gave her opinion about the event, saying, “It’s pretty nice that they listen, because I know that they’re also students so they understand it more than faculty would.” This event gives students the opportunity to be more open about the clear problems on campus and do it in a respectful way.
EC values the feedback. Roy said, “It kind of pushes us in directions to help the student body so we could be doing a proposal for something that we learned from this event that nobody really wants, so that we can push resources away from doing that to focus on something else.” It is a good way to engage students in having a voice to what some of their tuition money goes to.
Another student, Monique Caraman, also talked about what she wanted to see change. “I was wondering if they could maybe give us more of an update on newer clubs that are starting and what the clubs are about. I think that’s something that would be useful for students to know,” Caraman said. Many of the concerns that students brought also included things like Chick-Fil-A Days no longer being offered, the laundry machines in each of the dorms and the library not being open on the weekend. Another idea that was mentioned was getting more trash cans in order to keep the campus looking neat and tidy. This event is one that shows the creativity of all of Asbury and how much the general population cares for the health of their school.
If one has questions about any future EC events, they can contact Zachary Fazio at zachary.fazio@asbury.edu or Ashton Montgomery at ashton.montgomery@asbury.edu or pay attention to the EC emails.
Photo courtesy of Alanna May.
