With the second round of presidential candidate visiting campus this week, Slippery Rock Student Government Association (SRSGA) has been running a social media campaign centered around the hashtag, MySRUPresident. SGA aims to give students a platform on which to say what they are looking for in SRU’s next president.
The Rocket, in conjunction with WSRU-TV, participated in the hashtag last week, posting that “#MySRUPresident is cooperative with student media.” Now The Rocket staff would like expand on this idea and hit on what we are really looking for.
The Rocket staff believes that being cooperative with student media includes a mixture of qualities that even students not involved in student media find desirable. Being cooperative with student media means that a president is appreciative of the extracurricular actives students do outside of the classroom, it means that a president respects students and takes them seriously, even with important or complex issues and it means that a president is transparent in their actions and they are willing to explain the reasoning behind what they do.
Being appreciative of extracurricular activities is important because a president should recognize that learning does not happen exclusively in the classroom. Many of us can argue that we have learned more in what we have accomplished outside of class than in class. Being a part of a club or organization is also an important part of the Slippery Rock experience. Getting involved outside of class allows us to really feel apart of the community on campus and build relationships with each other that we can have for life.
Respecting students is paramount for a university president. We are in college to learn how to think critically and operate in the adult world. If someone in higher administration, let alone the president, treats student like they are immature or cannot understand what is going on, then they are, to put it simply, admitting that they are not doing their job. We are smart, we can think critically, analyze situations and form informed opinions on our own– and a university president needs to understand this.
Finally, being transparent is a key factor that The Rocket hopes to see in a new president of the university. In the past there has been a good relationship between the president of SRU and student media, and we hope that this continues. While the president may be busy going to events on campus or fundraising off-site, being able to sit down with student media about issues or campus or issues on a state-wide PASSHE level is vital, as it informs both the campus community and shows that the president is willing to set records straight and give their perspective.
The Rocket believes that whichever candidates are selected to be sent to the board of governors for consideration as SRU’s next president should exhibit these qualities to ensure a continued environment that is friendly for students and one that cultivates learning in and out of the classroom.
