SPEAK Up UVA is one of Student Council's greatest resources in recent memory and it would be a grave mistake if current Council members neglected to recognize its intrinsic value. One need only look at past Council administrations to find evidence of the initiative's success in revolutionizing the way in which Council interacts with students and gathers project ideas. To label the website as "underperforming" and one that has "failed to live up to its potential" ("Student counsel," April 6), therefore, is completely erroneous.
The website, created by William Reynolds, 2008-10 Council chief technology officer, is similar to a Facebook wall in structure, with posts from students that highlight various concerns or ideas, such as poor wireless Internet in the Lambeth Field Apartments. Posts are ranked by the number of votes each receives, which gives Council a sense of priority. Every post is then assigned to one of Council's 11 presidential committees, reviewed and labeled as "started," "under review" or "completed."
In essence, Speak Up UVA facilitated a unique feedback loop between students and Council members, thus creating an innovative and succinct method for the 2009-10 Council to interact with students, collect ideas for projects and gauge student input. For example, after a student posted a complaint that Clemons Library was the only available late-night study venue, Council's Student Life Committee contacted the University libraries and created a program that extends the operating hours of the Brown Science and Engineering Library during the final examination period. The program has now institutionalized and is completely funded by the University libraries, said Aagya Mathur, outgoing chief of cabinet and the then-Student Life co-chair, who oversaw the program's trial period.
Mathur said the website also was useful for identifying aspects of programs that could be tweaked and improved. For example, "UVAirBus actually didn't start from Speak Up UVA, but we did get valuable feedback through the site," she said. Feedback from the website helped the committee reduce wait time and arrange departure schedules that are most convenient for students.
At the time, Speak Up UVA gathered a sizeable audience that has since declined considerably due to lack of publicity and emphasis on the website. Newly inducted Council President Dan Morrison said students are not currently using the website because "Student Council hasn't made a compelling reason for students to use it," but that is primarily because Speak Up UVA has been placed on the backburner in favor of other means of communication, such as the Student Council website, Facebook page and even Twitter. Although these social networking outlets helps increase visibility for Council and its initiatives, they lack the defining element that helped make Speak Up UVA so popular and useful: the ability for a student to post anonymously and know that somebody, either on Council or from a relevant University department such as ITC, will read it and follow up on the problem.
Lack of aggressive publicity and initiative on the part of Council members has reduced considerably what was then a substantial audience. Part of the success of Speak Up UVA was the amount of regular interaction between students and Council members. Several other then-committee co-chairs, including Carrie Filipetti and Kate Hartmann of the Diversity Initiatives and Building and Grounds Committees, respectively, regularly visited the website to provide updates on the various initiatives and to receive instantaneous feedback.
Mathur said University administrators also became very proactive on the website. "This way information is coming straight from the source so it is more accurate and more timely. For example, University Department of Parking and Transportation has a representative who takes care of any posts regarding transportation - they have direct access to any comments, questions, complaints, etc., so they can take it on right away and give updates, rather than a committee having to play the middle man."
Another element critical to the success of the website is publicity. The 2009 Speak Up UVA publicity campaign was a multifaceted one that included chalking, flyering and electronic advertising on VPSA and HooView. Publicity for the website this year, however, seemed to have been more of an afterthought. Consequently, few first-year students
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