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Students given opportunity
to help solve MHCC's problems
The Advocate
Students told MHCC President John Sygielski Monday they want to “deputize” students to enforce a new smoking policy that takes effect Jan. 2, as well as creating better communication between students and the Financial Aid Office.
College administrators and staff, including Wendy Schissel, Larkin Franks, Nancy Szofran and June Jacobs, were also on hand at the Monday forum to help Sygielski answer questions and field suggestions from students. The forum was conceived and organized by ASG President Bradley Best and Sygielski.
Students suggested improvements to the design of MyMHCC and the registration portion of the Portal, as well as improvements to parking and traffic, financial aid and signage for computer labs and classrooms.
Students also wanted childcare for the library and more funding for work-study positions.
ASG Vice President Bethany Peterman said students she had talked with were threatening to smoke “wherever they want” in regard to MHCC’s new tobacco-free policy and wondered if “MHCC was planning on beefing up security” to aid in the enforcement of the new policy.
June Jacobs, assistant to the president for strategic initiatives and board relations, said that Wayne Feagle, head of pubic safety, had “developed procedures for public safety” and that “if they see someone smoking, they’ll get a warning. If they see them again, they’ll get a ticket.”
Jacobs said “many” students and faculty had approached her about possibly handing out policy cards to offenders who were still smoking on campus after the Jan. 2 smoke-free date. “If they want to do that, we’ll make up policy cards, and they’re welcome to do that in a non-confrontational way.”
One student brought up the idea of criminal justice majors earning work-study or tuition waivers as public safety “officers” that would help enforce the new anti-smoking policy.
Jacobs did not elaborate on what specifically the public safety procedures would be for dealing with smoking offenders.
Almost every student who attended Monday’s forum addressed the issue of the navigability of MHCC’s web-based registration portal.
Students complained that the registration portal was “tricky to navigate,” and said there were several features that they would like to see. Some stated they would like to see tab-based browsing of classes based on major or area of study, whereas others wanted to see keyword searches and schedule-based browsing of classes.
Peterman said there were ways of viewing classes on the web vs. the Portal that were similar to the suggestions students had brought up, but getting to those features or using them was confusing. “Some continuity would be awesome,” said Peterman.
Sygielski said that after the break between fall and winter terms, students would be involved in redesigning the MHCC website and Portal. “We have more than 5700 pages on the website, but once we return in the new year, students are going to be involved in helping us update and revise the website, because we realize there are some ways to streamline it and make it more targeted,” said Sygielski.
Best asked if financial aid was going to get some “first aid” anytime soon. “Probably the biggest verbiage I get from students is ‘the Financial Aid, the Financial Aid, the Financial Aid’,” said Best.
Sygielski replied that improvements to financial aid were in the works. “I hit about six dozen classes at the beginning of this quarter,” said Sygielski. “The number one area I have heard most about is some care and attention into our financial aid systems and processes.”
Several students voiced concerns with the Financial Aid Office’s communication with students, the financial aid process itself, and still others complained about the amount of information and length of time it takes the Financial Aid office to process paperwork.
“One of the things we’ve come to understand is that processes and procedures need to be evaluated and that’s what they are currently doing,” said Sygielski. “I’ve had a meeting with our financial aid professionals and they are working on resolving some of these issues.
“With the hiring of David Minger as the new vice president of student success and enrollment management, he already has some ideas and ways that he is going to assist our financial aid professionals work with our students,” Sygielski said. “If not this winter quarter, this spring quarter there will be enhancements.”
Best suggested a guidebook for financial aid for students. “It seems like financial aid plays by their own rules. It’s very unclear; if we had a rulebook or guidelines or something like that, that would help us out. We don’t know what we’re walking into, but they do.”
Students also hit on the issue of lack of power outlets in the library but said they liked the new laptops and the fact that the library was now open on weekends.
“We’re listening. It (change) doesn’t happen immediately, but we are listening,” said Sygielski.
The Advocate reserves the right to not publish comments based on their appropriateness.
Comments
Simple things like do you need a parking pass, how much is a student id and where do you get it, how long does it take my financial aid paperwork to be processed, etc. are impossible to find. I got more answers from the forums in my.mhcc than I did off the web site.