News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Representatives from Tennessee Tech’s Student Government Association (SGA) are expressing their concerns regarding the university’s administrative choices.
Zachary Grainger is a Senator for the College of Business at TTU. He said the changes and decisions on campus could effect students past and present.
“We may be paying it forward for future students to be coming to Tech, and that’s all fine and good,” Grainger said, “but where do they draw the line between taking away from our experience here at Tech versus making an investment in future classes coming to Tech. At the end of the day, we’re the ones here right now. We’re the guaranteed people that are going to Tech.”
Grainger said the recent updates and developments around campus are fine, but could impact the decisions of prospective students looking to attend Tennessee Tech.
“They’ll see all of this and they’ll be like ‘wow, is this what my money’s going towards, a college that doesn’t even look half finished in some ways?'” Grainger said. “even now, they’re even starting to replace roofs on all these [buildings]. I would rather have the roof constructions done than have a new fitness center or new laboratory building, or that sort of thing.”
Natalie Batsian is also a College of Business Senator at TTU. She said having the administration understand what the students’ needs are and noticing bills passed in the student senate will ultimately improve communication.
“That’s really something we’re really working hard to do this year because, we want what the students want to acutally happen,” Batsian said. “To do that, we need to start talking faculty members and people who are heads of committees who understand how we can get [bills] to the point where we need them to be for them to be implemented.”
The Tennessee Tech chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) recently conducted a survey of faculty members. The results indicate nearly 75 percent of respondents (100 of 137) said the Board of Trustees were not governing in the best interest of the students.
Grainger said he agrees with that take and said the university may be thinking too far into the future.
“I just think that their priorities are completely focused 10 to 20 years into the future with that master plan, and that’s fine,” Grainger said. “But especially since we are so vocal that these are changes and things that we are not a fan of, and it has been pushed back on so many times… at that point, someone somewhere has got to have a wake-up moment.”
Batsian said she has not heard many complaints regarding President Phil Oldham or the university in general other than a few brief instances.
“One [student] brought up, to me, Phil Oldham’s salary and his bonus,” Batsian said. “They weren’t super happy about that. But other than that, everybody likes the faculty here. I think people are just frustrated over the whole parking deal, but other than that, I don’t hear any negativity about the administration.”
Professor Dan Allcott is the AAUP Chapter President who helped organize the faculty survey. He and several students spoke with Oldham during a special open discussion event at the University Thursday.
“The students are here for a shorter time than some of our faculty members so their complaints are more acute,” Allcott said. “There were questions from the faculty but mostly, the faculty kind of let the students ask the questions. The students are worried about issues on campus right now. The faculty is more worried about the long-term issues for the campus, I think.”
The faculty survey results covered several topics centering around the Tennessee Tech administration and the school’s Board of Trustees. A full list of results can be found on the Tennessee Tech AAUP website.
