The MSU administration lately has made a big fuss about its desire to be transparent with the student body. The latest organization to jump on this “transparency bandwagon” is MSU’s Academic Council, part of the university’s Academic Governance system.
The Academic Council voted last week to allocate 10 minutes at the beginning of its meetings for public comment, which would allow students and other nongoverning members the chance to speak about whatever topics they please. In the past, public comments had to be approved by the council at each individual meeting.
The approval of a formalized public comment time basically is an effort on the part of the council to establish a plan for public comment and be more forthcoming with the student body. Previously, if nongoverning members wanted to speak at the meeting, members would have had to motion to yield time to such people, and this process would have to be repeated at each successive meeting. This way, students can attend a meeting knowing they will have a small opportunity to speak.
And although there might not have been a need for an established public comment during meetings before, there is definitely a need now — especially as many academic programs are in danger of elimination. We commend Academic Council for its foresight in this matter.
Allocating this time specifically for public comment is now needed more than ever. As MSU considers cutting a number of majors specializations and degree programs, Academic Council should expect more and more students to come forward to state their case on why their program is important. Academic Council is one of the major governing bodies on campus that helps to make such decisions, and it will become more and more important for students to make their voices heard — particularly if their academic area is on the chopping block.
We would, however, encourage Academic Council not to hold too tightly to its “10 minute” rule, which would allow a maximum of five speakers to each speak for two minutes.
We would hope the council would be flexible enough to reasonably accommodate any student who wants to share his or her thoughts during a meeting. If a contingent of students attend a meeting and have unique and concise things to share in a respectful manner, they should be given the chance to do so.
When the administration considers making substantial cuts to academic programs, it’s important that any and all decision-making bodies within the university remain as transparent as possible. It’s great that Academic Council sees the need to set time aside specifically for public comment, and we hope other governing bodies within the university continue to expand on this kind of transparency.
The next Academic Council is scheduled for Jan. 26. We would encourage all students who feel the need to share their views with the council to attend. If nothing else, it would be a great way to test out the new public comment system.
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