While The Bucknellian editorial board often points out flaws students see in the administration and campus organizations’ decisions, we also recognize when positive efforts are made to listen to and accommodate the student voice.
With the introduction of the Humanities Carnivale di Bucknell, the University is recognizing the effort students in the College of Arts & Sciences put in on a daily basis. Up until this year, only the College of Engineering had an event to showcase talents from individuals. Engineering Week, while providing a positive and competitive outlet to engineers, often came under fire from liberal arts majors for not recognizing the achievements of all students.
Now the Carnivale di Bucknell will do just that. Students will have the opportunity to enter into art and humanity based competitions with a focus on creativity rather than science.
Through the two-day event, the University is even offering monetary rewards to those students who produce exceptional entries. We applaud the University, and specifically the University Arts Council for recognizing students as the main population on campus.
In addition to promoting the arts through the Carnivale, the University has also recently added the Catherine Payn Scholarship Fund to award to students in music, specifically those specializing in opera. Providing one more opportunity for talented students to join the University family will only improve the attitudes and climate of campus.
Beyond just the arts, the University has also listened to the students’ concern regarding Pennsylvania’s new voter ID law. Under the new law, University IDs will no longer be valid for students to use as identification in the state of Pennsylvania without expiration dates.
The University listened to students’ upset in the spring and for the fall semester are giving out expiration stickers to validate the IDs for voting. They have plans to further the expiration date inclusion on the cards issued next year.
Activities and Campus Events (ACE) and the Campus Activities & Programs (CAP) Center are doing their part in listening to the student voice as well by changing up the musical genres performing this fall. With hip hop as the only genre represented in last year’s concerts, Fall Fest: Countrified and Avicii are welcome changes, and students are recognizing the Concert Committee’s efforts to please them.
With the University actively accommodating students’ needs and wishes, a new precedent is being set with the student as the primary customer. The University is recognizing this and taking to heart the saying, “the customer is always right.”