State of the University Survey used to discuss campus changes
USD Student Government Association discussed the responses to the State of the University Survey in their unofficial meeting last week. The survey was sent out to students on May 9.
The survey, which was constructed by Sorbe and Green last semester, asked USD students their concerns with the campus and policies.
63 students responded to the survey. Sobre and Green presented the results with President Gestring earlier this month.
“Instead of it just being Madison and I giving our perspective on what we think the students are feeling right now, it’s 63 students plus Madison and I giving our perspective,” Sobre said. “It really diversifies the opinions and it gives us a concrete document for us to refer back to.”
While 63 responses is a starting point for student feedback, it’s less than 1 percent of the student population. Sorbe said that for a first-time survey, he isn’t too worried about the response rate and is recommending future administrations to do more surveys.
“(With 63 responses) it’s hard to paint a more indicative picture of that. SGA had never done something like this before,” he said. “So now that we have done it once, I’m going to write up like a transition thing to whoever the next president is to do it again. I still think it’s good to do it at the end of the year because students are reflecting back on their time. (It should be distributed) probably like the week before finals week to give students some more time.”
Green said the survey will make a good “point of reference” moving forward with the semester and helping Gestring become familiarized with USD students.
“President Gestring doesn’t know the ins and outs of the student body as well as we do, because we interact with them every day,” Green said. “We are the voice of the constituents. Until we make surveys like this, we don’t know what’s going on. I am excited to see something like this go forward.
President Gestring said she is excited to receive more student feedback in the future.
“I got to look at SGA’s state of the university survey, and I am looking forward to getting more feedback from students in the future,” she said.
