In the office of outgoing Student Association president Shelby Balius, official agendas line her desk while seven crates of past presidents’ ideas and policies rest underneath.  A poster hangs above with the words: “You have nothing to lose and everything, everything, everything to gain. Just do it.”
With a hectic schedule and no two days alike, Balius has done everything from evolving the concept of online teacher evaluations, preparing for Bulldog Bash, structuring the idea of an online syllabus bank and handling the needs of transfer students more efficiently.
She said her main expectation about becoming SA president was to be able to truly see what SA does to make a difference in students’ lives.
“To an extent, I have seen that expectation realized. One of the things that we worked on from the get-go was trying to continue on teacher evaluations with the process of getting them online,” she said.
After working with the concept of uploading teacher evaluations online for three years, Balius said an online pilot program will be implemented to see what effects the program would have on response rates.
“The first kind of obstacle we went through was the Teacher Evaluations Committee and then there was sub-committee off the Associate Dean’s Council that considered the teacher evaluations academic operating policy,” she said. “From that, and with discussions from that sub committee, and with further recommendations to associate deans, we were able to make revisions of the policy to make sure that in the future, starting hopefully in fall 2013, all of them would be online.”
Balius said she worked to create a better dialogue with students through Twitter and a new cabinet position she opened to communicate more efficiently. Previously, SA dealt with multiple Twitter accounts, which she said proved to be difficult to up-keep. However, Balius said the new cabinet position has allowed a more streamlined experience.
Balius also said she increased transparency by continuing Rhett Hobart’s use of Twitter to discuss problems with the student body.
“By creating this dialogue, we can utilize the media that we have at our disposal that we already use in daily life and capitalize on that and be able to use it in communicating with students in what we need to do to prioritize what we’re doing,” she said.
By opening a new cabinet position dealing with transfer students, Balius said the success has been phenomenal. The new position allows transfer students to be heard and provides information on how a transfer student can be more involved on campus.
“The two members of cabinet that were chosen to be Transfer Students Affairs directors ended up deciding saying that ‘This was a great concept, but we’re going to run with it.’ And they did. Now, we have a new student organization on campus called the Transfer Student Association, and they had their launch meeting on Jan. 24,” Balius said.
With over 150 people in attendance, Balius said the outcome influenced her to see many people wanting to get to know other transfer students because it showed the work of the executive council in action.
Also showing the action and hard work of the SA executive council, Bulldog Bash proved to be a success but was met with several obstacles. Balius said the council learned the concept of adapting.
“Bulldog Bash,” she said. “It’s a funny thing. It’s our premiere event, and we have so much fun and develop so much experience in planning that one event because it’s just astronomical,” she said.
She said the first problem occurred when the event’s title sponsor pulled out, leaving them without 30 percent of the budget. Along with losing financial stability, the headliner, Neon Trees, canceled 17 days before the event.
“It was definitely a learning experience, but we can laugh about it. It ended up being even better with the Eli Young Band. It was a blessing in disguise,” Balius said.
Some of Balius’s other platforms, including a 5-day dead week and an online syllabus bank, have the appearance of being stalled, but still exist as ideas discussed in meetings. Balius said one of the most common misconceptions, and unfortunately most disheartening parts of being exec council is having ideas, but getting them into action can take three to six years.
“A lot of this year has been researching other institutions, seeing how the culture was before they implemented the dead week and after and seeing how those implications would affect the culture on MSU’s campus and quite frankly, sure it might be a great idea, but will it really work in the long run,” she said.
In regard to the online syllabus bank, Balius said the concept is still being researched and a lot of questions still need to be answered, but the council has been encouraged by discussion with the faculty senate president, Meghan Millea.
“One of the issues that other campuses have seen is actually getting faculty to post their syllabi,” she said. “We would be putting the cart before the horse if we built it now because we would first have to develop a policy on how the syllabi get up there, when they would need to be submitted and by whom they need to be submitted.”
Balius offered a piece of advice to the next SA president with a smile.
“Don’t be afraid to admit that you are wrong. And quickly ask for help because one way or another, you have to move forward. You can see that in the way that Bulldog Bash went,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be something that necessarily went bad. It’s making sure that you have heard all the different opinions so that you can make an informed decision.”
Looking back, Balius said every minute of her day was carved out, and that balancing life as a student with exams and papers proved to be difficult.
She said she has learned to adapt to quick change and listen to every opinion expressed.
“I have had an incredible experience and time being able to serve my fellow students in this capacity. I could not be more grateful and thankful for their support. I can’t wait to see what’s next for the Student Association.”