Sean McMinn
smcminn@mustangdaily.net
Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) President Katie Morrow said she wants to know how semesters would affect every student on campus, but there is one thing ASI does not care to ask: Do students want semesters at Cal Poly?
ASI members will survey hundreds of students this week about their thoughts on semesters in what Morrow calls a massive “on-the-ground outreach project.” Beginning this past week, ASI mobilized the Board of Directors, executive cabinet and University Union Advisory Board to approach students at random and survey them on a potential conversion.
The survey asks what opportunities students see under semesters and how principles traditionally associated with quarters can be adapted to a semester-based calendar. Morrow, however, said she does not see the need to assess the number of students who are in favor of — or opposed to — the switch.
“It’s frustrating to see that there are some people not willing to consider it,” Morrow said. “We should be open to any change that could make us better.”
Philosophy associate professor Rachel Fernflores, who chairs the presidential task force aimed at reviewing what semesters would bring to Cal Poly, agrees with Morrow that students do not need to be asked whether they favor bringing semesters to the university. Based on drafts of a survey that will be distributed to all Cal Poly stakeholders — including faculty, staff and alumni — Fernflores said there are no plans to include such a question.
Though Morrow said she would guess most students favor staying on quarters, she has repeatedly said she does not know whether a switch would benefit Cal Poly. Since the Semester Review Task Force has not yet produced a report outlining what it would take to convert, Morrow said there are few clear pros and cons.
But Morrow’s opinion — whether in favor or opposed to the proposed switch — might not matter either way. She appointed three ASI Board of Directors members to represent students on the 23-person Semester Review Task Force, and has since instructed them to act independently of ASI. She said they are tasked with representing the general student body’s opinion, not the opinion of ASI.
Biological sciences senior Derek Majewski, who serves on the committee with psychology junior Nate Honeycutt and agricultural sciences senior Tatiana Prestininzi, said the three elected representatives will use their votes to represent students.
“We’re not representing any subset of students,” Majewski said. “We weren’t picked based on major or based on year. We weren’t picked based on experience, necessarily. We were picked just to represent the students. So we’re together in that we’re going to be doing what the students think is best.”
Majeswski said even if what students want is different from what he thinks is right for Cal Poly, he will represent the student opinion on the task force. But a question on the survey asking if students are in favor of semesters is not necessary to accomplish this, he said. Majewski stands with ASI in that he does not want to see a question on the survey asking if students are in favor of semesters at Cal Poly. There are other ways to determine that opinion, Majewski said, other than directly asking the question.
One of the ways is through the conversations students have with each other as ASI members survey them. ASI is specifically trying to find groups of people when they survey students, Morrow said.
ASI’s overall goal is to reach 500 students, Morrow said.
Each member, including the three task force student representatives, is expected to survey 20 students by Friday.
“We’ll have a pretty good idea of what students are thinking from those conversations,” Majewski said. “Every group I’ve met with thus far, students are for staying on the current system … so as far as having a yes or no answer on that, I don’t think it’s necessary.”
Another way of soliciting student feedback will be through meetings ASI has with individual students on campus. Morrow said she would meet with any student who wants to voice an opinion about the semester conversion process.
“I wanted to make sure I gave a chance to as many students on this campus as possible,” Morrow said. “I will personally talk to any student on campus who has concerns about it.”
The president’s Semester Review Task Force began meeting early fall quarter and will present its report to President Jeffrey Armstrong near the end of the term. Armstrong said he expects to make a decision no earlier than January 2013, depending on how much support Cal Poly receives from the CSU to help with semester conversion.
“I think students being able to be a part of that decision is really exciting,” Majewski said. “And that makes Cal Poly unique.”