Although Undergraduate Student Government meetings were previously broadcast on WBGU channel 6, members have decided to reach the student body in more

effective ways.

With little evidence showing that students actually watch the bi-weekly broadcasts, Aaron Shumaker, USG president, proposed to end the televised meetings.

‘Televised meetings weren’t efficient and we would like to try some things that hopefully will be better,’ Shumaker said.

This change will present USG members with challenges to create innovative ways to reach students, Shumaker said.

Ways USG could inform students of the organization’s proceedings, according to Shumaker, are newsletters delivered to all on-campus students and face-to-face conversations.

Despite no longer being televised, Shumaker is excited about ‘thinking outside of the box’ to engage a larger number of University students.

‘It will really be a positive effort to get the word out about USG,’ Shumaker said.

Previously, USG meetings were held in Olscamp 113 and the organization was charged $625 by WBGU for use of the room and broadcast.

The meeting location was moved to Life Science 112 due to free use of the facilities.

‘They felt it was not a good use of money when they could use this (room) for free,’ said Wanda Overland, associate vice president and dean of students.

Overland supports the decision to halt the broadcast stating she knows very few people who actually watched it.

Matt Seckel, senator and Internal Affairs Committee chair, agrees that the broadcasts are unnecessary.

‘We can be on TV all we want, but if no one watches, it serves no purpose,’ Seckel said.

Though in support of the decision, Niki Messmore, at-large senator, voiced possible drawbacks to the cut.

Minutes of the meetings are only summaries of what’s discussed, where as the broadcast are an exact account of what happened, Messmore said.

Through the broadcasts, senators were held accountable for what they said.

But without that accountability, senators could potentially lose the incentive to remain loyal to their

constituents.

‘I think with lack of recorded meetings, constituency won’t be able to directly observe what is going on,’ said Brian Dixon, off-campus senator.

Dixon fears senators will be able to say whatever they want because students won’t know if they were accurately represented.

As the voice of all undergraduate students at the University, USG plays an important role in listening and identifying concerns.

With the willingness to initiate change and use the money in a more effective way, Edward Whipple, vice president of student affairs, is confident in USG’s abilities to represent students.

‘A strong student government is…innovative, creative, takes risks and continually re-evaluates itself,’

Whipple said.