OUR VIEW: Albrecht’s open door policy a boon to students
Sometimes college students can feel more like a number than a name, getting shuffled from one organization to another without ever having their questions or problems resolved. While this may remain a constant challenge with so many students on campus, at least USU students will now have a chance to have their voice heard by the head honcho at USU – President Stan Albrecht.
Beginning last Wednesday, Albrecht implemented an open-door policy, where any student can visit with Albrecht on any topic once a week. Sounds too good to be true, right? Getting an office visit with Albrecht used to take weeks or months, depending on whether or not Albrecht was actively promoting the comprehensive campaign. Not any more. Albrecht’s open door policy allows a chance for students to genuinely talk with a genuine president.
We applaud Albrecht’s policy. Not only is it a great public relations move on his part, it’s a much-needed policy that will likely engender goodwill between university administration and students.
Sure, it may not alleviate parking concerns or the cost of tuition, but sometimes, as students, we want to know our voice is being heard and recognized by someone. To have our voices heard by the highest authority at USU is something special.
Listening to Albrecht speak on his open door policy, it’s hard to doubt his authentic concern for students and his desire to address issues important to them. He has repeatedly said helping students obtain the highest quality education is his goal as president. The second phase of the comprehensive campaign, which is largely focused on building the university endowment to provide more scholarships to students, is proof of his commitment to the students. His open-door policy takes his commitment one step further.
It’s relatively easy to sit behind a desk and say you care about the student body, it’s quite another thing to allow students free access once a week to visit with probably the busiest man on campus. That’s a personal commitment that affects his most valuable resource – time. Yet, he is providing it freely.
Albrecht said students can talk to him about anything – campus concerns, safety worries, dating advice (though he admits to not being an expert in this category) or athletics. Whatever your concern, Albrecht will listen. And most students who have talked to Albrecht one on one for any length of time come away feeling like he understands and wants to do something to help.
It is rare for a university president to have an open-door policy, so students should take advantage of it. You never know, your 15 minutes with Albrecht could be the spark that initiates the next great student program at USU.