YOUR VOICE: UHCL community gives impressions on past SGA Town Halls
Last updated Dec. 4
The Student Government Association (SGA) hosted a town hall via Zoom June 30, inviting the UHCL community to ask about matters regarding racial justice and issues on campus. This meeting featured President Blake and members of her Executive Council.
This was a follow-up meeting to the “Community Dialogue: Dealing with Social Unrest & Racial Justice” co-hosted by SGA, the Office of Student Equity Diversity and Inclusion (SDEI) and the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership (OSIL) on June 4. Since then, SGA continued to hold these monthly town halls, inviting Blake and others to join them. At the moment, recordings of the town halls are later uploaded to the SGA YouTube.
Thirty-five members of the UHCL community, who were active during a town hall or present for at least two of the events, were sent a survey to gauge the campus climate regarding the town halls by The Signal Sept. 29. This group included students, staff, faculty and members of the upper administration. This included emails to President Blake and all of the vice-presidents except Dwayne Busby, director of strategic partnerships, and Kevin Wooten, chief strategy officer.
Additionally, an identical survey was sent to the entire UHCL community via email.
The Signal asked everyone these questions:
- What are your key takeaways from the discussions?
- Have the town halls met your expectations, why or why not?
- What has been your experience on how the town halls have operated and action/inaction there-after?
- How productive do you think the town halls have been so far? (scale from 1 – 10)
- What purpose do you see the town halls as serving in the future?
Here are the responses.
These results come from the forms submitted by Oct. 15. Each block represents one vote.
View Past Town Halls
- July (not available)
- August 5, 2020
- September 11, 2020
- October 16, 2020
- November 13, 2020
Sheridan Allison
double major in Marketing and Business Management with a concentration in Leadership
What are your key takeaways from the discussions?
The UHCL administration have no idea as to what they’re doing when it comes to supporting their disenfranchised students and are scrambling to throw word salads together as they go; the UHCL Police Department can do no wrong in the eyes of administration and therefore students will continue to feel unsafe; the UHCL administration as a whole including UHCLPD rely heavily on manipulation tactics like gaslighting, intimidation, and simply playing the victim in order to avoid accountability.
Have the town halls met your expectations, why or why not?
The town halls have absolutely met my expectations. When people continuously show you who they are, you have to believe them. My expectations for admin responses were very low and unfortunately, they did not prove me wrong.
What has been your experience on how the town halls have operated and action/inaction there-after?
The operation of the town halls has honestly been quite a mess. The lack of respect that many admin have for students has led to them constantly interrupting the President of SGA as she attempts to facilitate, but when co-facilitator and faculty member Dr. Lisa Jones speaks up, they fall silent. The administration have very routine responses: They conveniently don’t understand the question and make no effort to allow for clarity. They sit in long moments of silence due to no one having an answer. They share verbal high-fives by praising each other for the bare minimum. And all of these mental jumping jacks return in the following session. No new information. No campus action plan. No accountability. You thought the presidential debate was bad?
What purpose do you see the town halls as serving in the future?
I can see future town halls being a great opportunity for administration to say they have heard student voices and in exchange continue to ignore our concerns.
Morgan Henske
BS Environmental Science
What are your key takeaways from the discussions?
Many students don’t feel heard, included or even safe on campus. Administration seems to listening but they are asking students for ideas on how to solve these problems, which has not been recieved well by some students.
Have the town halls met your expectations, why or why not?
I’ve attended at least two town halls and discussions have been stressful and seemingly unproductive.
What has been your experience on how the town halls have operated and action/inaction there-after?
I think there has been action taken from UHCL Police in trying to bridge the gap between officers and students. There have been many events they have been promoting, including a Meet and Greet event.
What purpose do you see the town halls as serving in the future?
It’s been really nice to see administration of all areas come together to meet and listen to students directly. It’s made me feel like they are supportive of our education and want us to succeed in all things.
Iliana B. Melendez
Associate Dean of Students
What are your key takeaways from the discussions?
Our students lived experiences and their needs directly related to that.
Have the town halls met your expectations, why or why not?
Yes.
What has been your experience on how the town halls have operated and action/inaction there-after?
It has been good.
What purpose do you see the town halls as serving in the future?
Continue to be the connection to the lived experiences of our students with some form of follow-up and accountability.
Aliya Beavers
Director of SDEI
What are your key takeaways from the discussions?
1. Students would like for better communication from upper level administration.
2. Some people do not feel safe on campus whether it be concern for their physical safety or not feeling welcome on campus due to being a member of the various underrepresented populations on campus.
3. There is a desire to have more programming, training (required), etc. related to diversity and inclusion for all UHCL community members.
4. The university is not doing enough to make this a welcoming environment for all. 5. Students are not feeling supported in their identities and/or the support that is being offered is discriminatory or not addressing the actual issues.
Have the town halls met your expectations, why or why not?
Yes and No. I am glad that they are happening and that students have an opportunity to voice their concerns. Additionally, I think the structure of the meetings has improved over time and more students are able to share. In the beginning, it felt as if there was less of an opportunity for students to share because a staff member spent a lot of time trying to defend themselves so I am hoping with the new structure more student voices will be heard. I am also ready for there to be less defending of past actions/responses and more acceptance of responsibility. I hope this will lead to both students and university staff to be able to move forward with solutions now that we have all of the problems out on the table.
What has been your experience on how the town halls have operated and action/inaction there-after?
I have seen a few things come from the town hall:
1. The recently formed UHCL diversity work group and
2. The identity specific town halls that will be happening over the next few weeks.
What purpose do you see the town halls as serving in the future?
I wish for the town halls to keep the lines of communication open between students and staff as we continue to move forward as a university.
Joyce Delores Taylor
Lecturer, College of Human Sciences and Humanities
What are your key takeaways from the discussions?
The students have concerns and this forum gives the opportunity for those concerns to be identified and addressed
Have the town halls met your expectations, why or why not?
Yes, they have been very informative, organized, deliberate and open for any and all attendees to comment and feel comfortable that their concerns can be voiced.
What has been your experience on how the town halls have operated and action/inaction there-after?
They have been timely and operated very professionally by the current SGA Administration and the UHCL administration, staff and faculty are addressing concerns as they have been identified.
What purpose do you see the town halls as serving in the future?
A forum for students to continue to voice their concerns and for faculty, staff and administration to address each and every concern to support our student’s issues and their continued success. A platform where students can ascertain that they are being heard and listened to and that UHCL continues to “foster collaboration and leadership” among our campus constituents, keeping the student’s best interest at heart!
Evelyn Miralles
Associate Vice President, Strategic Information Initiatives and Technology
What are your key takeaways from the discussions?
Students concerns.
Have the town halls met your expectations, why or why not?
Mostly, but not completely.
What has been your experience on how the town halls have operated and action/inaction there-after?
I want to see more participation and action items to follow up.
What purpose do you see the town halls as serving in the future?
A good avenue to address direct and overlooked issues from students.
Anonymous Staff Member
Anonymous staff
Rated productiveness 3/10
What are your key takeaways from the discussions?
Our students of color do not feel supported at UH-Clear Lake.
Have the town halls met your expectations, why or why not?
I expect more. I do not think that our administration has grasped the problem or maybe they don’t want to. Administrators need to not get angry when students ask questions.
What has been your experience on how the town halls have operated and action/inaction there-after?
I haven’t seen any action. I just hear about it during the town halls and haven’t seen anything being done besides strategic planning.
What purpose do you see the town halls as serving in the future?
Hopefully they’ll answer more questions.
Responses to survey after publishing (Nov. 13)
Anonymous Faculty Member
Anonymous faculty
Rated productiveness 7/10
What are your key takeaways from the discussions?
Students are frustrated and need to be listened to more.
Have the town halls met your expectations, why or why not?
Yes.
What has been your experience on how the town halls have operated and action/inaction there-after?
The students have done a great job expressing issues, but they are not being listened to. Very little change has happened. But faculty feel the same way. I actually get more information from the student town halls on many issues than I get as a faculty member.
What purpose do you see the town halls as serving in the future?
Getting information out and learning the thoughts of students.
Anonymous CSE Student
Anonymous student
Rated productiveness 4/10
What are your key takeaways from the discussions?
That the university’s contact tracing and communication skills are very lackluster. If my brother’s public school can do better I am scared for my health.
Have the town halls met your expectations, why or why not?
That the university’s contact tracing and communication skills are very lackluster. If my brother’s public school can do better I am scared for my health.
What has been your experience on how the town halls have operated and action/inaction there-after?
I think Hiba and her team are doing the best they can. I enjoy receiving emails that are meetings that are happening.
What purpose do you see the town halls as serving in the future?
That they are informative and a great way to allow people to understand the university better. But it would be nice to have the documents being read to be given so I could follow along.
Anonymous BUS Student
Anonymous student
Rated productiveness 8/10
What are your key takeaways from the discussions?
Grading policy
Have the town halls met your expectations, why or why not?
No, administration doesn’t listen to student’s complaints
What has been your experience on how the town halls have operated and action/inaction there-after?
I like the format. Although the administration gives empty promises and no action to their answers
What purpose do you see the town halls as serving in the future?
For students voices to be heard
Oct. 16 changes
Oct. 16 was the first town hall in which racial discrimination and system equality was not the main topic of discussion. While it was still discussed, the second half featured concerns voiced by participants about various on-campus issues.
Blake and most of the members of the Office of the President Leadership Team did not attend this meeting. Provost Steven Berberich, senior vice-president for academic affairs, attended but left before the open forum because of a scheduling conflict. Aaron Hart, vice-president of student affairs, and Mark Denney, vice-president of administration and finance, were there for beginning of the town hall and open forum.
