To say that the NU Shuffle will be eradicated by July is a ridiculous statement. Don’t worry, I know that.
I’d like to clarify a few points that were discussed in the Feb. 28 article in The News, “Fiore: Shuffle to end by June.” I perhaps was not clear enough when discussing our plans and what is going on with them. Yes, the Student Government Association (SGA) is working hard on conquering the NU Shuffle right now, absolutely.
Do I anticipate that the Shuffle will be gone by July, though? No, that’s pushing it. Your student government’s effort to end the issue, however, will definitely be completed by then. When it will be completed is up to how long it takes the administration to act on the report and recommendations we submit to them.
As former SGA Vice President Christopher Kelley said correctly, some of the issues we are dealing with are culturally rooted and will inevitably take some time to change.
What I can say is the predominant change that has taken place between when I took office eight months ago is the very foundation that will allow the problem to be fixed. The administration is actively collaborating with the SGA to bring an end to this issue, as opposed to denying its existence, as was the previous situation.
For those of you who don’t know, the NU Shuffle is a term coined to describe the incredible difficulty people sometimes find when trying to get something done on campus. The bureaucracy can be almost suffocating as students are sent from office to office to office looking for information or to get something done.
The upperclassmen on campus can probably see that things have visibly improved since they first came here. Progress in fixing the issue has come a long way, and numerous situations have been righted during the years, but it was mostly band-aids applied to bigger problems that weren’t being addressed.
In a nutshell, the SGA is running a consulting project on the university. This entails gathering input on definite instances of the Shuffle, which is still underway and should be a continuous process. Once a source is identified, it is researched: what is happening and why is it happening? This entails looking at organizational charts and processing flow charts, visiting and investigating situations, etc. Once the causes of the problems have been determined, we can come up with solutions as to how to address them.
The sum of that information is what will be completed and presented to the administration before July. I’d anticipate that after the administration goes through the report, they will address the issues we have brought forth as it makes sense for them to do, depending on funding, time and manpower. So it is tough to say precisely when an end will come to the Shuffle, as I can’t personally wrangle departments of the university into doing something a certain way. But I expect the report will be addressed with due diligence and that within a few semesters a final end will be reached.
We are still gathering input and every little bit is a step toward this problem being fixed. During finals you’ll see a big push to get feedback. Send in your comments or situations in which you’ve experienced the Shuffle to [email protected], and we can work on them. If you’ve been personally put off by the Shuffle and feel serious aversion toward it, or even if you’d like some experience working on a consulting project like this, feel free to volunteer and contact us.
Beyond the Shuffle, the point I was trying to get across for that article was that my executive board and I are committed to carrying out all of the things we promised the student body and that we are well on our way to doing so. Keep your eyes peeled for a general update on what else is coming.
– Joey Fiore is president of the Student Government Association.
