In light of complaints about ASCSU’s transparency over the past year, members of senate and the administration are discussing ways to improve student and ASCSU relations.
According to Vice President Lance LiPuma, senators have proposed placing recording technology in the senate chambers.
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“We want to address the transparency issues that have been brought up throughout the year,” LiPuma said. “It’s something that last year’s administration had problems with, and it’s something that we’re trying to find a better solution for next year’s senate.”
ASCSU contacted Academic Computing Network Services, the organization they use for all of their technology, about implementing the proposal. LiPuma said the company estimates costs of at least $20,000 for filming and producing the footage.
“Some of the senators are very adamant about it,” LiPuma said. “The administration, so myself and Sam (Guinn), are reserved. That’s a lot of student fee dollars. … My personal belief is that we should not go down that way.”
LiPuma said ASCSU will be releasing a student voice survey, asking students for their opinion. The survey is still in its processing stages.
“If we were going to move forward with it, we would need quite a bit of student backing,” LiPuma said. “We’d need more than what the student voice survey would give us, but it’s a good place to start.”
ASCSU currently releases minutes of their meetings online, according to Li Puma.
“It’s a great way to see the kinds of motions and debate — kind of the flow of the meeting,” Li Puma said. “However, it lacks a lot of details.”
LiPuma said the administration is discussing less expensive ways to improve its transparency.
“We’re looking into just doing a low-budget production within our own office, with just a simple camera,” LiPuma said. “We’d go through our marketing department, and create a five to six or seven minute video saying this is the recap of the week.”
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Brennan Galligan, a sophomore marketing major, said shorter videos would be most effective in reaching students.
“I feel like a full recording just isn’t necessary,” Galligan said. “They could just have summaries or something of what’s going on.”
However, sophomore business management major Ben Madrick said he believes ASCSU should be more open.
“It’s just good to know what is going on, especially with money in the picture,” Madrick said. “If you’re curious about things, then it would be really easy to have video access to it. A lot of people might be interested.”
Collegian Diversity Beat and Entertainment Reporter Hannah Ditzenberger can be reached at news@collegian.com on on Twitter at @h_ditzenberger.
