by Megan Moore and Kris Bein

Although we appreciate the Daily Egyptian’s obvious concern and support for our efforts to improve academic advisement at SIUC, we would like to clarify some things that were incorrectly stated in the editorial Not enough, which ran Thursday.

First of all, our project does not suggest or in any way call for the hiring or firing of academic advisers. Rather, our suggestion is for a gradual move to a decentralized advisement process that would involve moving advisement to departmental levels so that advisers (be they faculty members or staff hired specifically to advise) can have a more detailed, focused bank of knowledge that will inevitably result in better student services.

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Also, a statement was attributed to vice president Megan Moore that she simply did not make and that is in direct conflict with the goals and philosophy of the project. It is not our intention to put the power of shaping students’ college careers in the advisers’ hands, but rather to put this power in the hands of the students themselves by providing them with a higher level of service and with the least amount of bureaucracy. The other facets of our plan support this concept. We feel that students should be mailed a degree progress report each semester that will show students exactly how far they have come and exactly how far they have to go to complete their particular degree program. In addition, we would like to see students provided with a sort of survival guide that they can refer to for information about advisement, financial aid, internship/co-op/work experience and any other pertinent facts that all of this vital information is compiled in one easily accessible place. In the end, implementation of these ideas will, we believe, result in a virtual elimination of the bureaucratic mess that many of us call the Woody Hall Shuffle.

We will be meeting with Chancellor Don Beggs to discuss establishing focus groups regarding these issues. We are also researching current career services offered on campus and how those might better be tailored to student needs and desires.

This project is in no way an attempt to criticize or demean any current department or services. It is an attempt to respond to student needs and concerns in a way that will not only boost students’ confidence in their chosen institution, but will also serve as a positive marketing tool directed at those outside the University looking to come in.

Thank you for allowing us to clarify this important project. We look forward to working with the entire SIUC community in making the goals of this project a reality.

vice president Undergraduate Student Government