Do Northwestern students want to have an online chat with Vice President of Student Affairs William Banis or other administrators?

A online survey sent to students early Wednesday morning asked just that.

Students received a questionnaire administrators hope will measure how well the university communicates with students and what administrators can do better to improve communications.

“The fact is that at Northwestern we probably focus to a greater extent on external communication with our alumni and with potential students,” said Alan Cubbage, vice president for university relations. “Perhaps we need to spend a little bit of time thinking about our internal audience, so that’s what we’re doing now.”

The survey contains questions about how well the university communicates with students on issues regarding course registration, student activities, student services and campus events. It also asks students how often they read and tune into various campus news media, including: The Daily; Northwestern News Network; WNUR-FM (89.3); and The Observer, NU’s weekly newsletter.

A similar survey will be sent out to faculty and staff by the end of the week, Cubbage said.

The survey was created by the Internal Communications Working Group — a coalition of students, faculty and staff from every walk of campus life.

The group, which has about 25 members, has met twice to examine how other universities communicate with their students. Some schools, including the University of Pennsylvania, have extensive online news services that provide up-to-the-minute news to their students.

Laura Beres, a Communication senior and member of the committee, said one interesting online example incorporates links to both internal and external news sources. The university Web site links students to both CNN and university news.

“The first part is an information gathering stage,” Beres said. “We’re waiting to decide what steps to take next until after we get some of the (survey) responses back.”

Beres also said she hopes the group’s improvements will help communicate NU’s strengths to its students.

“One of the really unique and wonderful things about Northwestern is that we have great diversity,” Beres said. “We’re looking at how we can communicate that better.”

Cubbage said he hopes to compile the results of the survey and come up with recommendations by early May.

“What we’re looking at is how well are the existing communications working, and what do (people) want to know,” Cubbage said. “I think that’s a key thing. What is it that students, faculty and staff want to hear?”

The Daily’s Sheila Burt contributed to this report.