Cowan plans to improve classroom experience, college affordability

It”s the second time around for ASUI President Max Cowan, but the time off from being president gave him time to reflect.

“(I have) had an opportunity to meditate on how student government works, how students perceive student government – and ASUI – and what we can be doing more effectively,” Cowan said.

Kira Hunter | Argonaut ASUI President Max Cowan discusses plans and goals for the University of Idaho and its students while in office.

Kira Hunter | Argonaut
ASUI President Max Cowan discusses plans and goals for the University of Idaho and its students while in office.

He said his overarching goals are to improve the classroom experience, help maintain college affordability and to strengthen the campus community.

“Some of these projects are longer term than others. When it comes to improving the classroom experience, there are some shorter term goals,” Cowan said.

One of the goals, Cowan said, would be to adjust syllabi to include the contact information for the department chair so students that have conflicts in their classes know the proper chain of command.

Cowan said he plans to improve the classroom experience by enforcing dead week policies, giving input in prioritizing classroom renovations and encouraging online grade posting.

“When instructors are offering tests and quizzes during “no exam” week, we want students to be able to bring that to the attention of their department chairs,” Cowan said.

Taking after a change made at the University of Oregon, Cowan said allowing students to sign their name on course evaluations could provide more meaningful dialogue.

“I think that is one way we can foster a more civil dialogue about how to improve our classroom experience, if it”s actually a conversation,” Cowan said.

According to the Institute for College Access and Success, University of Idaho students have an average of $25,691 in student debt, and 68 percent of UI students graduate in debt.

Cowan said he has plans to address college affordability.

To do this, Cowan said he plans to be a proponent of open textbooks, which are freely licensed so students can download and access them online without having to pay. He said there are plenty of resources already available to students and Rice University, for example, has a great program that offers a number of different textbooks to students in lower division courses.

“I think this year brings an opportunity to be more focused,” Cowan said. “I think it brings some perspective on what values are most valuable on this campus.”

Alexander Milles  can be reached at  [email protected]

Leave a Reply

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.