Student Council members considered student concerns and discussed internal committee reports at its Tuesday night meeting.
Topics of discussion included the shortcomings of existing feedback systems for professors, understaffing at the Center for Counseling and Psychological Services and derogatory graffiti on Beta Bridge aimed at supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Brett Curtis, third-year Curry student and representative body chair, brought up problems with the existing systems for course and professor evaluations, noting that several of his friends had expressed frustration with their courses recently.
“We’re at that point now after midterms when people are starting to get their midterms back,” he said, noting that this often leads to student concern about grades and the difficulty of certain classes.
Curtis asked whether there is any way of expressing feedback on classes at this mid-semester point, in addition to the end of semester evaluations.
“In general, when students give their end of semester feedback, classes have been scheduled for the next semester already,” he said.
Student Council President Emily Lodge, a fourth-year Batten student, said the Batten School does in fact have a mid-semester evaluation system in place already.
“I know Batten does mid-semester evals, and I think those have been super helpful — professors can talk about the general feedback they got from those surveys,” Lodge said.
Aside from course feedback, Curtis said this time of year can also be very stressful for students, and a shortage in staffing at CAPS has led to a backlog in scheduling for appointments.
“We’re facing some staffing issues and appointment scheduling is almost three to four weeks out for the first available intake appointment in some cases, and that’s problematic,” Curtis said.
Other members echoed his concerns, noting that CAPS is aware of the problem but has no available solutions, despite a recent revamp of its system this summer.
Joanna Morgan, fourth-year College student and chief of cabinet, recommended looking into other resources in the Charlottesville community to help address students’ mental health concerns in addition to CAPS’ services.
Curtis also addressed a derogatory comment recently painted on Beta Bridge directed against Trump supporters.
“While many of us may have opinions one way or the other, I do encourage us not only as Student Council but as students of the University to engage in respectful dialogue,” he said, emphasizing the importance of knowing the difference between acceptable political debate and derogatory comments.
Student Council also discussed the possibility of establishing a guide to University bureaucracy for students trying to figure out to whom to address their concerns.
Austin Gogal, third-year Curry student and College representative, mentioned a student who found it difficult to find a member of the administration to help with her concerns, and only received assistance after being redirected several times.
“I was wondering if we have a directory of what kind of student concerns go to what people,” Gogal said.
Vice President for Administration Sarah Kenny, a third-year College student, said she is hoping to create a resource to guide students to the right administrators to deal with different concerns.
“I’m starting to work on an initiative to bring back a tangible first-year book with resources that are consolidated and accessible to students,” Kenny said.
Kenny said she hopes to get a working group to begin the initiative in the coming weeks.
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