Project Title: Attitudes About University Governance at Ohio Wesleyan
Students: Rachel Charles ’16, Cierra Cresanto ’17, Kristie Kinberg ’18, and Luke Waters ’16
Mentor: Dr. Paul Dean
Our group is studying the involvement of Ohio Wesleyan students in university governance. University governance is all of the decisions that are made about how the university operates. Aspects of university governance include decisions on budgeting, student services, designing academic curriculum, policies and procedures for staff, faculty, and students, etc. At Ohio Wesleyan, many groups and individuals are involved in the process of governance, such as President Rock Jones, the Board of Trustees, the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs, department boards that include student participation, and committees composed of faculty, staff, and students. The issue of student participation in university governance is important as students at Ohio Wesleyan, and across the nation, have begun push for more involvement in making and influencing university decisions. We have developed a quantitative survey that includes questions about students’ perceptions and attitudes of student participation in university governance at Ohio Wesleyan, the reasons that students believe they should or should not be involved in governance at Ohio Wesleyan, and students’ knowledge of the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs. We are currently collecting data from 160 random students on campus. After all the data is collected, we will analyze the answers to see the trends that do or do not occur. We are collecting this data in an effort to provide different governing bodies within Ohio Wesleyan University relevant, useful information on student attitudes towards their participation in university governance.