The ASMSU Academic Assembly’s ninth session ended with a 20-minute meeting full of laughter Tuesday, but Academic Assembly Chairperson Charles McHugh said the assembly’s laid-back demeanor did not always exist.
“We had always been looked at as the dry, pin-drop assembly,” McHugh said. “You could hear a pin drop at our meetings; we never talked.”
While Academic Assembly primarily deals with academic issues, acting as a student representative in the university’s Academic Governance system, McHugh said it was still a somewhat inactive period for the assembly.
“It was a slow session,” McHugh said. “We certainly had a great group of students this year, it was just hard to find issues to get fired up about.”
However, Marcia Short, Academic Assembly vice chairperson for Internal Affairs, said the relaxed atmosphere of the assembly meetings can be misleading and was beneficial to the work environment.
“That was an environment that was recently created,” Short said. “I think that is just an atmosphere the reps bring to the table - they still do their work and maintain their responsibilities.”
Academic Assembly representatives also said the session was relaxed, especially compared to the eighth session.
“The ninth session was much more laid-back and slightly less productive,” said Steve Lovelace, Academic Assembly Undergraduate University Division representative.
While there were a significant amount of accomplishments during the session, a majority of them actually were started beforehand, McHugh said. The achievements included the approval of a new university student code of conduct policy and putting Student Instructional Ratings System evaluation forms online.
“They were the fruits from four years of work, we were just there to pick them,” McHugh said.
Still, McHugh said there were several significant events that took place during the session, citing a Sept. 26 walkout by ASMSU in objection to a decision made by Academic Council concerning the online evaluation forms.
“That was a bold move, it took a lot of courage to do that,” he said. “We were complimented as a governmental body for saying enough is enough.”
But McHugh and Short, who are not returning to ASMSU, said they anticipate the assembly’s 10th session, beginning next week, will be just as casual but with a little bit more activity.
