ASUP has passed a resolution urging Beauchamp to dialogue more with students
By Jessie Hethcoat
University of Portland President, the Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C., signed students' acceptance letters, writes them e-mails and sends letters home to their parents.
Despite Beauchamp's presence in students' e-mail inboxes, most students who attend UP have never met or seen the president. Because of this, ASUP passed a resolution urging Beauchamp to hold open dialogue sessions at least twice a semester.
Beauchamp supports the resolution.
"I'm happy to do it," Beauchamp said. "I don't think I've been inaccessible, but this will help formalize my accessibility."
Beauchamp enjoys being in contact with students. In fact, he is teaching a business law class this semester to do so.
Beauchamp's lack of student visibility is due to the nature of his job. He is busy often and makes limited appearances to the student body, and this often mistakenly translates into his absence.
Despite Beauchamp's willingness to meet with students, many students feel uncomfortable approaching him with their concerns.
Senior Chris Brox is an off-campus senator who was one of the sponsors of the resolution.
"Beauchamp has always been available to speak with students, but the truth is that students don't actually seek him out to express their concerns" Brox said. "I think it's becoming even more important now that the University is starting to focus more on growth and expansion."
Sophomore Colin Dorwart, ASUP sophomore class senator, also sponsored the resolution.
"We have complaints almost every week that students want to see the president before they graduate," Dorwart said.
According to the resolution, the meetings will hold several purposes, for students to ask questions or state their opinions and do so in a more comfortable setting.
ASUP has taken precautions to create less of a "state of the union" address and more of a conversation. With the resolution passed, ASUP will foster a new "visibility" for Beauchamp. These meetings will promote unity of the students and the administration.
Freshman Megan Drouhard believes that these meetings will be beneficial to students.
"As far as I know, there was no easy way to find out about the trees being chopped down outside The Commons during fall break," Drouhard said. "It's things like that situation that show there's a lack of communication between the students and the University that needs to be addressed."
Brox and Dorwart both emphasized the importance of the meetings with the president to be open dialogue.
"I don't want to see this turn into a speech or a once a semester meeting," Dorwart said. "These sessions should be open to anything."
The meetings will most likely take place in St. Mary's. However, the details for the event are all still tentative.
All UP students will be invited to attend and ask questions.
"UP stresses how small class sizes create relationships between students and professors," Brox said. "This should be the same case with our president, especially because of our small school size."
