Pod structure to encourage discussion

By Jieya Wen     9/25/14 7:29am

The Rice University Student Association is employing a new group structure, referred to as a pod, to address four presidents’ topics of interests: the LPAP requirement, campus-wide election timelines, campus-wide announcements and calendars and the blanket tax process, according to SA President Ravi Sheth.

“I can't possibly claim to know the solution to these topics –– or if there is any current problem with them at all –– so I am asking small groups of four or five students to consider these topics and provide recommendations to [the] Student Senate as to how to proceed,” Sheth, a Martel College senior, said.

According to Sheth, each pod will focus on a different topic.

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“These small groups are open to any student, and the college leadership have been asked to [inform] any relevant students who are interested in working on these issues that they can join,” Sheth said.

According to Sheth, the four topics originated from discussions with different groups on campus.

“In a given week, I have 15-20 hours of meetings and hundreds of emails, with groups ranging from students [such as] college presidents, senators [and] SA committees, to faculty, staff and administrators,” Sheth said. “These issues have come up in these settings or discussed informally with students.”

Lovett College President Meghan Davenport said she thinks all four topics are equally important. Davenport, a senior, said she is interested in participating in the pod focused on the blanket tax process.

“I think it is very important to examine the processes through which people can get funding for campus-wide initiatives,” Davenport said. “I know the staff of the Student Center does great work with that already, but even they are constrained if the process is not ideal. I have seen more and more campus-wide organizations coming to the colleges for funding, which may be okay in the short term to test out ideas if the college approves but is not a sustainable solution. It is not a good practice for the colleges to be allocating money to things that they ultimately have minimal oversight on.”

University Court Chair Brian Baran said he also thinks it is important to discuss the blanket tax process because the blanket tax system allocates a huge amount of students’ money.

“It's certainly worth discussing whether there's a better system for allocating those student funds in order to maximize the value they provide to the Rice community, both in terms of what organizations accomplish with them and how accessible they are to organizations deserving of student funding,” Baran, a Duncan College senior, said.

Baran said he thinks the campuswide election timeline is an equally important topic.

“Election timelines impact just about every student and student organization at Rice and connect to a lot of other important discussions, such as how we can make it as feasible as possible for students to study abroad,” Baran said.

According to Sheth, the pod focused on the LPAP requirement will discuss whether the current requirement is in line with its original mission and possible alternatives. The pod for campus-wide announcements and calendars will discuss whether the status quo is efficient and whether a campus-wide calendar will improve the situation.

Sheth said he expects the pods to provide recommendations to the SA on how these four areas should move forward.

“This will be an efficient way for us to quickly gauge opinions on these issues and potential for future changes, while also making sure what we are doing is in line with what students want, and not just what I or our leadership wants,” Sheth said.

Baran said he supports the idea of pods because it engages people with a strong interest to start a discussion on the topics that could lead to more formal consideration.

“Because the Student Senate tends to have a crowded agenda with topics that have been raised by the administration or are the subject of legislation, it's hard to find time to discuss topics that haven't yet developed to that point,” Baran said. “The pod system is a beneficial expansion of the SA's ability to gather and structure student input and, thus, to accomplish something valuable to the student body.”

According to Sheth, he will appoint the groups of students for each topic at the SA meeting on Sept. 24, and the groups will present their initial recommendations at the Oct. 8 SA meeting.

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