This column focuses on a wide range of issues affecting post-secondary students. Students are encouraged to submit suggestions and educational topics they are concerned about, or personal experiences with courses or university situations they feel other students should know about.
Have you ever attended a university that opened up the doors of the executive offices and invited students to come inside and talk? Where each of the university’s executive officers, including the university president, keep those doors open for several weeks, ready to answer any questions students may have, ready to engage in a dialogue about the future of the university? If you are an Athabasca University student, then you have that very unique opportunity!
Since the beginning of December, AU’s president Dominique Abrioux, VP Academic Judith Hughes, VP Finance Pat Eagar, and Executive director Stephen Murgatroyd, have opened up their office doors and are eagerly waiting for students to come inside and talk with them. So far only a few students have responded to that invitation, but the discussion has been interesting and productive. Even though the website dialogue is scheduled to end soon, AU executive have extended the invitation to students to continue to feel welcome to email or phone them with any questions or comments.
In a post-secondary university environment where university presidents and vice presidents tend to remain distant from the students, AU once again shows that it is unique. Although AU administration has always been open to communicating with students, this is the first time students have been given the opportunity to directly speak with AU executive in an ongoing website dialogue. How we utilize this opportunity may have a bearing on whether the door remains open. Our university executive is really interested in what students have to say, so if you have not yet participated in the discussion, I would encourage you to do so. To join the discussion, go here: http://chinstrap.cs.athabascau.ca/cgi-bin/b7/main.pl?rid=120
