The basic concept of customer satisfaction has escaped many departments of this university. For example, a student contacted the Student Government Association (SGA) because she had a broken foot. She needed assistance getting from an address within what the Division of Public Safety defines as “campus,” to the academic buildings where her classes are held. After going through the same run around as she did, it became obvious that the university did not provide this service, and no one was willing to take the incentive to see that this student was brought to class. It was not until someone in the College of Arts and Sciences had the decency to extend herself to this student that she was able to receive the accommodations she required.
It has been my experience that even in the most basic business, that when a customer needs something, it doesn’t matter who does it as long as it gets done. And until the attitude changes at this university, students will continue to get the run around and continue to have feeling of uncertainty. Just look at how the university is handling financial aid.
With semester conversion right around the corner, one would assume that the university would be making great strides to ensure that students felt comfortable not only academically, but financially as well. As a student, I have experienced this, and as every week passes, more students come into the SGA office in a last resort effort to find someway to stay in school. If I remember correctly, retention rates is a large component to the US News rankings, so wouldn’t it make sense for the university to be more proactive?
Becoming proactive could have produced a better service to the students by incorporating a part of an inadequate service with a new one. Students have long complained about the facilities that house in the Lane Health Center. It would make sense to me that while we just built and opened a state of the art health science center that serves, both, the university and the community, that perhaps there would be room to incorporate a new state of the art health science center at this university.
The reality is that the tone has to be set from the highest level and must resonate down. These few incidents may not exemplify my point, but I do believe they support it. As students, I’m sure you have already thought of an incident that you could easily use to support my point. The reality is that until the university really goes out of it’s way; that is, cares about it’s students, for more than just what we bring to the rankings, the students will not truly care about the university.
