Letter to the Editor: USAC should be more proactive in seeking student opinion

As reported in Amanda Schallert’s article “USAC stipends to increase by about 90 percent in September,” members of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, in an effort to give themselves the time and ability to do their jobs effectively, recently voted to increase their quarterly stipends. The student body reacted negatively, partially because of the lack of student input to the decision.

While USAC has said it plans to better inform students about the stipend increase, the council has not proposed any systematic changes to better include students in the decision making process for the future. While the new Resolution Reform feature, which gives students the opportunity to give input on USAC resolutions, is a step in the right direction, it will be ineffective without efforts to publicize other decisions that come before council.

Whether or not the stipend increase is justified, the real issue is USAC’s lack of engagement with the student body. If the council had sought student opinion before the vote, perhaps the stipend increase would not have been subject to such backlash. Students could have offered ideas about how to improve the stipend system that the council could not think of on its own.

Most importantly, USAC is supposed to represent the students. Unless council members actively seek student opinions before making decisions, how can they claim to be doing their jobs effectively?

I encourage council to raise an issue and then spend a week publicizing it and gathering student opinions before voting. USAC’s process for seeking student input needs to be better implemented.

I’m glad to see that council is reacting constructively to student opinion, but for the rest of the year I’d like to see them be less reactive and more proactive in engaging with students.

Brian Hertz
Second-year human biology and society student