At Wednesday’s Town Hall meeting with Oswego State President Deborah Stanley, graduate student Justin Brantley raised not a question, but a thought-provoking point.
Brantley mentioned that while it may seem like students have limited questions at these meetings, it is still important to have faculty and staff ask the students questions as well.
“This should be a two sided conversation where all give input and have conversations,” Brantley said.
“We really want to be a part of your world. We want to be there for you,” Stan- ley responded.
And they are here for us. Oswego State has come a long way in making sure students are having the best possible college experience.
However, the town hall meeting raised a
lot of concerns students have with certain aspects of campus and how the administra- tion has responded. This is to be expected at any conversation-based forum. These meet- ings are designed to answer student ques- tions and hopefully reassure them that they will be resolved.
The point that Brantley raised is a fair one, because while the administration does a well- enough job of answering our questions at these town hall meetings, there’s never really any point during a semester where they have a chance to ask us questions.
Stanley held a meeting with students in the food court of the Marano Campus Cen- ter last semester which was more informal than a town hall meeting. Some students took advantage of this to have one-on-ones with Stanley. Many members of the administration
travel to various residence halls as part of programs to talk to students. This is a good thing and a lot of them are very interested in getting to know students better.
But these meetings are few and far be- tween and it should not only take a specific program for members of the administration to make their way to the residence halls. We realize they are busy beyond what we could imagine, but to really be involved with the students on this campus, it takes more.
The beginning of that is what Brant- ley said. For students to feel they are being heard, it takes more than just a monologue. Administration has to ask us questions as well. We can always raise concerns, but some concerns may not be brought up if we aren’t asked. Some students may be overlooked if that effort isn’t made.
