Editorial:

Student Life should revamp, not redo the Web site

Published Nov. 3, 2009

Whether we like it, student fees will increase next year. It is nothing more than a matter of inflation. Student organizations are quickly scrambling to try to get a piece of the inflationary reallocation pie. Some have legitimate proposals. Others want things that do not seem very necessary.

The Department of Student Life is asking for 33 cents of the inflationary increase to fund a desk to increase student involvement. One graduate student and four desk attendants would staff it, and it would be located in the Center for Student Involvement. Students would be able to go to the desk to get information about how to get involved.

The great thing about the Center for Student Involvement is there are already a lot of cubicles where students can go to ask individual organizations how to get involved. Adding one more desk will not make a whole lot of difference.

Director of Student Life Mark Lucas has a good sales pitch for this. Lots of students do get overwhelmed and do not know how to begin to get involved.

But most organizations do a really good job at marketing themselves and getting more members. It seems like there are often student organization fairs throughout the year. There is not a lack of information about how to get involved.

Funding for this program would cost about $16,000 per year. Rather than giving more money to Student Life to do something it is already doing fairly well, maybe we could allocate this money to organizations who can use it to market themselves.

Student Life is also asking for $15,000 revamp its Web site. It is unclear where this money would come from, as it is not a part of the inflationary increase in student fees.

Despite the fact we do not know where the $15,000 would originate, the bigger problem is the fact it is largely unnecessary.

There is no denying the Student Life Web site is a nightmare. It is hard to navigate. It randomly goes in and out of existence. The database of student organizations contains some groups that were discontinued years ago. The database site also looks like something straight out of 1993. The site needs work.

Does it need $15,000 worth of work? Absolutely not. Student Life wants to outsource the job to an outside development company. We already pay for a team of Web developers here, but it is apparently not sufficient. So why are we continuing to have it on staff if it isn't going to be the one to redo the Web site?

Rather than starting from scratch, just improve what you already have. Updating a Web site should not cost $15,000. There are students on the campus who can create award-winning Web sites. There is no reason we should have to hire an outside firm.

After the initial $15,000 fee to redo the Web site, it would cost $1,000 for every year after to maintain the site. We could save so much money by just having our team take care of the site.

Student Life is not the only organization asking for a bigger share of the inflationary increase. Many other groups want their share as well. Some of these projects are necessary. Some are not.

It is never a bad idea to increase student involvement. Participating in groups on campus is a great way to enhance any student's college experience. This is just not the way to go about doing this.

We already have resources on campus for students to get information. Nearly everyone should know about the Student Success Center or the Center for Student Involvement. They are both very well marketed throughout campus.

Instead of paying for yet another way to give students information about getting involved, use the money on the resources we already have. Make sure our student fees are being used for things that are necessary. Do not waste our money.