Student Government President Seth Cutter will deliver undergraduate input on the first draft of AU's strategic plan to the university's board of trustees on Monday after receiving input from students over the past two weeks.
Cutter held a meeting Saturday in the Butler Board Room, which was open to all students, to discuss what revisions students believe the Strategic Planning Committee needs to consider before they submit the plan to the board.
Only a few students were able to come to the event because of the weather effects associated with Tropical Storm Hanna. University Librarian Bill Mayer also joined the discussion.
The themes most broadly discussed included alumni relations, student-centeredness, social responsibility and diversity.
The draft, which includes eight overall themes and 40 specific goals, only includes the high level goals, and does not yet include an implementation plan, Cutter said at the meeting.
The plan's fifth theme, which outlines AU's social responsibility in the community, seemed to fall short, according to Mary Schellentrager, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences who attended the meeting. Goal 29 in the plan suggests selecting a common theme every year that relates to social justice, which Schellentrager said is unlikely to produce real results.
"What would that actually do?" she said at the meeting. "It doesn't suggest any change."
AU must also improve its relationships with alumni, according to Bill DeBaun, a senior in the School of Public Affairs. The strategic plan should reflect that students are "lifelong members" of the university, DeBaun said.
DeBaun said he wanted to see more attempts to enhance the student experience by taking greater steps in the plan's third theme, which looks into diversity.
"We don't talk about diversity well as an institution," DeBaun said.
However, balancing students, faculty and staff in the strategic plan is difficult, considering that each facet of the university is crucial, Mayer said at the meeting.
Transparency will be a major issue to students during the next revision period of the strategic plan, according to Andrew Addison, a junior in CAS who attended Saturday's meeting.
"Every department needs to remain transparent in their discussion of the plan," he said.
Mayer urged the importance of the campus community remaining involved in this process.
"I can only encourage all AU community members to read the plan, making sure you are seeing the most current version available," Mayer said in an e-mail after the meeting. "The directions we take at the university level will need to be accessible and embraced by every individual."
Mayer said he does not foresee many major changes to the draft before they present it to the board.
"I would not anticipate dramatic revisions, at least of the themes," Mayer said at the meeting.
Still, some students feel overlooked, according to Schellentrager.
"I don't think we've seen a lot of our ideas reflected in the draft," she said.
These ideas include a broader idea of diversity within theme three, which would broaden socioeconomic diversity as well as cultural diversity, Schellentrager said.
The committee released this draft of the plan on Aug. 25, and allowed two weeks for comments from the campus community, The Eagle previously reported.
You can reach this staff writer at jcalantone@theeagleonline.com.
