Student body presidents from four Mississippi universities met Saturday to address pertinent issues for Mississippi’s public universities.
The presidents of Mississippi State, Delta State, Ole Miss and Southern Miss discussed student representation on the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, night transportation, tsunami relief, freshman involvement, intersession and other issues.
In addition to addressing issues, the presidents shared their respective university activities.
“I guess the main thing we wanted to get out of the meeting was sharing what we’re doing at each institution,” SA president Adam Telle said.
The University of Mississippi’s Associated Student Body has been working on a night transportation system similar to MSU’s Night Route, said ASB president Gordon Prescott.
Ole Miss also addressed dead days. “We’ve been working on some kind of academic freeze the week before exams,” Prescott said.
All student body presidents agreed that textbooks are an issue. “They [the bookstores] care about students as the consumer rather than the student,” said USM’s Student Government Association president Walt Cain.
Delta State instituted a book swap in which students took used books to their departments and picked up books they needed for the next semester.
“We had the first successful book swap I’ve seen,” said Josh West, president of the university’s Student Government Association. “Feedback’s outstanding from students.”
Telle said he hopes MSU can take a cue from other universities on freshman involvement.
“Southern does a great job,” Telle said. He described their program as “kind of a post-orientation program to get students to learn the fight song and learn the alma mater and understand what’s so special about Southern Miss.”
Telle said he thinks a similar program would be great at MSU, because it could lead to better grades, more student involvement and more generous alumni.
The presidents also discussed student representation on the IHL Board of Trustees. Telle said he knew 26 states with student representation on their equivalent board.
“Here in Mississippi there are 12 members on the board that governs all eight institutions, and there is not a student,” he said.
The Student Body Presidents Council does not want an adversarial relationship with the IHL but wants to provide input so Mississippi’s public education may improve, Telle said.
“Our purpose is to address things on a statewide level and further the cause of students on a statewide level,” Telle said.
Campuses are already uniting on tsunami relief efforts by expanding MSU’s clothing drive into a statewide competition.
“We think that will advance not only the cause of students in Mississippi but, if the consumers are happy, then higher education’s going to be better,” he added. “Mississippi’s going to move forward as a state if it has better higher education.”