Yesterday, my Odyssey article “Dear Embry-Riddle” went live.
Since then, it has been shared over 400 times by current and past students, and over 2,000 more have read the article.
The interesting part is positive – and negative – responses I have gotten from people.
Here are some of them below:
“This is SPOT. ON.”
“You don’t have all of the details, so there are answers to what you’re frustrated about.”
“You hit the nail on the head.”
“Why would you bash the food?”
“We’re trying to improve.”
So, here are MY responses to everything that has been said to me in the past 24 hours.
Yes, I understand that I may sound bitter. However, I’m not. I’m a concerned, frustrated student at a university where I pay $50,000 to attend.
I’m irritated beyond belief that, even though I know what my chancellor looks like, I haven’t seen his face around on campus since April, nor have I seen an email from his office.
Of course I don’t have all the details because (and this is based on what I’ve been told and the answers I have been given) the people that DO have all the details are members of the Student Government Association, and they assume that the student body knows those details too.
Guess what? We don’t.
Recently I was told that the reason the new dorms are being built faster than the new Student Union is because the building is funded by a grant, so it has to be completed by a certain date. The Student Union is NOT funded by a grant, and therefore has no date it needs to be completed by.
Everything I wrote in my past article to this article comes down to one thing: transparency by the university.
If you TELL us that’s why the new dorms are being built so fast, I promise you that the student body will understand. We will accept that answer and deal with a cramped library for a little longer.
But you also need to effectively find out what problems are plaguing the student body as well. Yes, there is parking available. But the parking is 15 – 20 minutes away from where classes are. At that point, it’s not worth having a car.
Yes, the food on campus is not great. As I said in my last article, there are some redeeming qualities of Sodexo. But students will tell you how horrible the food is on campus. Don’t you think that that’s a legitimate concern?
After some urging by two of my friends, I will be finding out these answers.
But my issue is that I shouldn’t have to chase these answers down. I should already know them if the university were effectively communicating 100%.
I know that’s a hard thing to accomplish. I do. There are a lot of really awesome things going on on campus.
For example, the current Dean of Students, Lisa Kollar, is doing a phenomenal job. The SGA has been much better about communicating events to the student body. And the newly named Student Engagement office has been doing an awesome job with student organizations on campus.
However, I would feel much better as a student and a leader on campus if there was more communication and transparency from the administration, wherever that may come from.
Look out for my next piece where I get the answers to my “Dear Embry-Riddle” article!
