Response to “Forum foul play”

Editor’s note: Letter written as a Facebook Note on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2011.

I’d love to get your opinion on how Student Government can be a better advocate for students since your article said we are not doing enough and not advocating in the right way.

I agree that forum is scheduled at a bad time for students and voiced the same opinion when the date came out. However, I really don’t think the University secretary is hiding away in her office intentionally planning events so students can’t be there. Either way though, I know we could get the Chancellor to host another forum if we really want.

By that same token, I hesitate to advocate for that because, honestly, students don’t turn out. The tuition forum is a perfect example of that. It was held at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday and SG sent an e-mail to all students and advertised on Centennial and the Brickyard for a week in advance and zero students showed up — other than SG and Student Media.  Do you think we should ask them to host another budget forum at a better time for students? If yes, when? I have already asked them to stream the forum and post it online for later viewing. Are there other avenues we should ask them to use to communicate with us? Tomorrow, at Chancellor’s Liaison we will be asking the chancellor and the provost to do more to communicate with students like regular Youtube sessions, radio spots, regular guest columns, etc. Other suggestions?

N.C. State University could be faced with cutting $80 million, which is a really serious problem N.C. State has to solve. In your article, I couldn’t pick up on any proposed solutions or suggestions to address this problem. If you can think of ways in which I can better communicate and represent students in my role please let me know.

Kelly Hook

Student Body President