Senate, SGA struggle to communicate

After several student leaders claimed they were overpowered in the University Senate debate to implement a plus-and-minus grading policy next fall, SGA officials and university senators said they plan to discuss how the two organizations can communicate more effectively going forward.

Although Student Government Association members were adamantly opposed to approving a new grading policy — and the body voted to condemn the policy Nov. 7, two days before the senate ultimately voted in favor of it — they did not inform the senate of their stance on the grading system until the day of the body's Nov. 9 vote. While the two organizations do not have a formal system of exchanging information — which leaders said has not caused significant problems in the past — SGA President Kaiyi Xie said he plans to meet with Senate Chair Eric Kasischke and Chair-elect Martha Smith to discuss opening new channels of communication and collaboration between the two organizations — especially on issues that directly impact students.

"There is always room for improvement, but we've seen the consequences of that miscommunication, so we want to work together to improve it at this point," Xie said.

The senate's decision to move forward with the new grading system drew criticism from the SGA and several undergraduate student senators, who said faculty senate leaders did not solicit enough student input before making their decision. Senate leaders said they were largely unaware of student concern regarding the grading system until two days after the vote, when the SGA spearheaded a petition opposing the policy that garnered hundreds of student signatures. And while the SGA often votes on whether to support senate legislation — including a policy that requires all scooter riders wear a helmet — the body does not formally send the results of its final vote to the senate, and many times does not inform the senate at all of its stances on various issues.

The SGA has not sent the body the results of any of its votes regarding senate legislation — including the resolution condemning the grading policy — but SGA members also said the senate does not adequately inform students of important issues before the body votes. Although Kasischke said the senate website provides information on all legislation to members of the university community, he noted the senate does not typically reach out to students.

"We rely on people coming to us and informing us," Kasischke said. "What we do is provide a forum. Therefore the question that I'm trying to focus on and try to answer for people is: If people want to influence decisions made by the senate, when is the best time to do that? How can we facilitate communication between the two organizations to make sure we get the information from the SGA in a timely fashion?"

Many student leaders said they believed the time for conversation should come long before the final vote. Xie's predecessor, Steve Glickman, said there were never any significant miscommunications during his two years as SGA president, but said this was mainly because there was a member of his cabinet sat on the Senate Executive Committee — the body's most powerful subcommittee — unlike this year.

But Xie said he believed the senate should be the body to take the initiative by reaching out to the SGA.

"I think actually being a representative body requires engagement and outreach," Xie said. "I feel they should be more proactive. Maybe we should keep a sharper eye on the senate website, because it is a two-way street. But I do think they have an obligation to reach out."

Some undergraduate senators said they also noticed the barriers in communication between the senate and the SGA, especially in the aftermath of the grading policy debate.

"It's really disconnected on both fronts," said Alex Miletich, an undergraduate senator. "We aren't getting any of the SGA polls they do until really late, and vice versa; the senate is probably not doing the best job of informing the student body of these issues until they are ready for the final debate, which is oftentimes too late because most of the work is already done in the committees."

Undergraduate senator Seda Tolu said improving communication with the SGA would help both organizations ensure the student voice is fully represented.