2008 Woodie Awards
Senate meets to discuss changes to Vision 2020
By: Sadie Michalk
Issue date: 10/10/08 Section: News
Texaas A&M President Elsa Murano gave a presentation describing the current affairs of the University and her goals for the future Wednesday to the Texas A&M Student Senate. The senate also voted on several pieces of legislation and listened to a speech by Student Body President Mark Gold.
Murano introduced her modifications to Vision 2020. She said that she expects A&M to be the top public University by the year 2020 rather than in the Top 10.
"I modified it because you should never shoot to be in the top 10, you should shoot to be the top," Murano said.
She showed the senate a chart from the U.S. News and World Report rankings of similar institutions which showed that Texas A&M was expected to be the 24th ranked university in the nation in 2009. A&M was ranked 15th in 2002.
Murano gave her explanations as to why A&M has fallen in these rankings.
"It is not so much that we have failed, but other institutions are not sleeping either. They are trying to get better too," Murano said.
She said she expects A&M to be the top university because of the faculty, students and resources. She outlined five specific areas that she said A&M needs to improve on in order to be considered the top university. Among the five areas were academic quality, globalization, great value, infrastructure and enlightened governance.
Jess Fields, an off campus senator asked about the fairness of the Aggie Assurance program. She suggested that financial assistance should be provided to students whose families make more than $60,000 a year but still have to work just as hard to pay for college.
Murano agreed that a better idea would extend the program to students whose families make $80,000 a year or less but at the time the University could not afford it. However, she said that in the future she plans to make that a possibility.
Student Body President Mark Gold gave a presentation about the College Station bond election including six major propositions.
One of these propositions included an expansion of the walkways along University Drive and the Northgate area. He reminded the senators that it was important to help educate the student body about the propositions and encourage them to participate in the election.
Gold said that in the spring 2008 semester College Station City Council housing ordinance vote only 500 students voted despite the attempt to encourage more student participation.
"As of now in the eyes of the city, the student opinion is about 500 people," Gold said. "That is not a very strong voice."
Murano introduced her modifications to Vision 2020. She said that she expects A&M to be the top public University by the year 2020 rather than in the Top 10.
"I modified it because you should never shoot to be in the top 10, you should shoot to be the top," Murano said.
She showed the senate a chart from the U.S. News and World Report rankings of similar institutions which showed that Texas A&M was expected to be the 24th ranked university in the nation in 2009. A&M was ranked 15th in 2002.
Murano gave her explanations as to why A&M has fallen in these rankings.
"It is not so much that we have failed, but other institutions are not sleeping either. They are trying to get better too," Murano said.
She said she expects A&M to be the top university because of the faculty, students and resources. She outlined five specific areas that she said A&M needs to improve on in order to be considered the top university. Among the five areas were academic quality, globalization, great value, infrastructure and enlightened governance.
Jess Fields, an off campus senator asked about the fairness of the Aggie Assurance program. She suggested that financial assistance should be provided to students whose families make more than $60,000 a year but still have to work just as hard to pay for college.
Murano agreed that a better idea would extend the program to students whose families make $80,000 a year or less but at the time the University could not afford it. However, she said that in the future she plans to make that a possibility.
Student Body President Mark Gold gave a presentation about the College Station bond election including six major propositions.
One of these propositions included an expansion of the walkways along University Drive and the Northgate area. He reminded the senators that it was important to help educate the student body about the propositions and encourage them to participate in the election.
Gold said that in the spring 2008 semester College Station City Council housing ordinance vote only 500 students voted despite the attempt to encourage more student participation.
"As of now in the eyes of the city, the student opinion is about 500 people," Gold said. "That is not a very strong voice."
Be sure to include your name, major, and class year. Submissions without this information are subject to deletion.
By submitting a comment, you agree to thebatt.com's Terms of Use.
You may also send a Mail Call to The Battalion at mailcall@thebatt.com