Wednesday, October 10, 2001

House hopes to gain more feedback
By Kristin Delorantis
Staff Reporter

The House of Student Representatives hopes to gain more feedback from students by conducting Constituency Day online, said House Vice President Amy Render.

Today, all students can log onto (http://vote.tcu.edu) and fill out a 16-question survey. Render said the questions were originated by chairpersons of the House regarding issues they feel are campus concerns.Render said online voting increases turnout, especially from commuter students. She said it is more convenient for students and allows voting at any time of day.

Sophomore psychology major Kim Diggles said Constituency Day is effective only if student concerns are really considered.

“Constituency Day doesn’t work if what students say is ignored,” she said. “We like to feel like our opinions are being heard and are important. It is great if the wants and needs of students are actually taken into account.”

Render said half of the questions included in the survey are questions that could become legislation. Others involve changes that can be strongly encouraged to administration through a resolution.

Last October, members of the House sat in the lobby of each residence hall from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.distributing surveys and received responses from about 800 residential students, Render said.

The Commuter Concerns committee passed out surveys in the M.J. Neeley School of Business and Student Center.

“The way we did it last year was not the best way to reach people,” Render said. “It was the first year the survey was done on such a big scale, but this year’s survey is a lot more direct. People are always interested in telling us what they think about TCU because it is directly related to them.”

Render said last year’s Constituency Day resulted in the House passing a bill to make the Student Center lounge a 24-hour study area and a resolution to add new cable television channels. Senior speech communication major Kylie Page said Constituency Day should be better publicized.

“If I did hear of it, it didn’t stick,” she said. “It sounds like a great idea but it is clearly ineffective if I’m a constituent and I have not heard anything about it.”

Render said the House is hanging flyers and posters and sending e-mails to students to publicize the day.

Kristin Delorantis
k.a.delorantis@student.tcu.edu