By Safiya Merchant
the daily northwestern
From e-mail newsletters to alumni magazines, Northwestern has no shortage of avenues to brag about its most successful professors and graduate students. But the options are not quite as plentiful for advertising of the achievements of undergraduates students and organizations.
Associated Student Government is searching for a way to fix that, President Claire Lew told The Daily.
The group is debating what mechanism would be best for informing the student body about student achievements, such as fellowships and group events, the SESP senior said. Ideas include making the NU website more dedicated to students or building one or more separate websites devoted to student activities and achievements.
Vice President for Student Affairs William Banis has pledged to help ASG executive their vision once it decides on the form of the new mechanism.
“Sometimes you need a vehicle to bring people together with like interests so they can collaborate and have a greater impact,” Banis said.
Weinberg junior Max Brawer proposed the idea at a Student Group Advisory Dinner in Fall Quarter.
Brawer said he realized the importance of community when he took a Northwestern Community Building Initiative class . Sometimes students can feel loyal to a small group, such as their dorms, but not attached to the greater NU community. In order for a true community to build on campus, students need to have the same information, he said.
“The stuff that’s not relevant to everyone - those are the kind of achievements sent to the University listserv,” Brawer said.
Dean of Students Burgwell Howard said he supports finding a way to publicize student achievement but warns NU must be careful about sending out too much information.
“It’s about trying to find the balance between the proper group getting information and people getting so much information that they stop to care,” Howard said.
Websites such as the Northwestern NewsWire and NU Link post events and achievements, but some students think these are not adequate in advertising student activities.
“The websites don’t tell students’ stories personally enough,” said Laura Ruch, a Weinberg junior.
“When you know someone personally and you hear what they’re passionate about, it makes it more meaningful and relevant than reading it on a news feed,” Ruch said. “They lack more personal anecdotes from students.”
NU highlights the achievements of many community members who are not undergraduates, said Ryan Hynes, a Communication junior.
“As far as listservs, I get the sense that it’s mostly about grad students and professors I have no understanding about,” Hynes said. “There’s a bit of disregard on the University’s part for acknowledging and celebrating student group achievements.”
Hynes, who is active in the theater and music communities on campus, said the activities that get the most publicity are University-sponsored. When there isn’t enough publicity for student-run undergraduate organizations, students don’t know what others are accomplishing, he said.
Still, students like Communication senior Barry McCardel think the University offers multiple opportunities for advertising, but student groups don’t know how to take advantage of them.
“ASG and the administration have the responsibility to help student groups reach students,” he said.
