Appropriations, academic integrity discussed at forum

March 27, 2006 —

This month's President's forum started slowly, but a few pointed questions led President Eric R. Gilbertson to speak at length on a number of topics as diverse as health care, Michigan's economy, academic integrity, and student involvement.

Only a handful of people (fewer than 15) attended the forum to voice their concerns. Gilbertson joked that making up serious issues and subsequently printing them may inspire greater attendance at future forums. Nonetheless, some real issues were eventually brought up, the first of which was Michigan's economy.

After being asked about the Senate Sub-Committee on Budget Appropriations hearing that took place at SVSU two weeks ago, Gilbertson spoke on the difficulty of acquiring state funding in times of economic hardship, noting that as people purchase fewer goods, the state collects less sales tax, and as the average income of a Michigander steadily lowers, the state collects less income tax.

In short, the worse off the state economy is, the less money there is for public universities to make use of. This poses a critical problem for SVSU, Gilbertson said, which has been forced to raise tuition rates in the recent past and in the case of a continued economic slump, will likely do again.

Aaron Gyurko, a student at SVSU, then asked the President what policies SVSU is pursuing with regards to academic integrity. Gilbertson responded at some length on the subject.

"It's hard to get your hands around a problem this big," he lamented.

Gilbertson then informed Gyurko that the University has made some significant efforts to raise awareness of issues surrounding academic integrity, including a lecture series. Gilbertson also mentioned that the implementation of a University-wide honor code is tentatively scheduled for later this year. Yet, he still expressed concerns.

"Ethics cannot be enforced with policy," he said. "It's more of a cultural thing."

Gyurko then asked Gilbertson why there was, in his view, a lack of on-campus involvement on the part of the students.

The President responded, saying, "I think we're being a little hard on ourselves," and that the problem - student apathy - is most certainly not unique to SVSU.

He cited an interesting figure: at Ohio State University, only 1,500 students out of 35,000 voted in student elections. Ken Schindler, director of Information Technology Services, noted that when SVSU used to send campus activity informative e-mails to all students, students almost never read them, even going as far as to create folders where the e-mails would automatically be sent to upon arrival.

Gilbertson's conclusion: students have to possess the initiative to get involved. SVSU cannot force motivation upon the entire student body.