Get Herald RSSA majority of respondents to an Undergraduate Council of Students poll said they were at least "fairly satisfied" with UCS this year.
A record number of students - 40 percent of undergraduates - voted in the WebCT poll, which addressed a range of issues that UCS hopes to address this academic year. Among these concerns is the student body's perception of UCS - 53.1 percent are "fairly satisfied" with the performance of the body, though only 2 percent are "extremely satisfied" with UCS.
"We're all extremely pleased," said Tristan Freeman '07, UCS communications chair. "Our approval is higher than any other year I can recall. I'm very surprised that people seem to have a favorable view of us."
Freeman attributed this favorable perception to UCS efforts to reach out to the community. "The fact that we have taken new initiatives to reach out to students this year has really helped our standings in the Brown community because students really believe in what we are," he said.
Students overwhelmingly supported UCS procedures to standardize admission to popular lecture events and advocate campus-wide wireless Internet, with 68.7 percent and 73.0 percent of respondents in favor, respectively. Yet, response to participation in a University-sponsored winter program and satisfaction with advising was mixed: 44.3 percent of those polled would participate in a winter program, and 48.7 percent are satisfied with advising at Brown.
"Campus-wide wireless Internet - I was surprised that it's so highly supported," said Brian Bidadi '06, UCS President. "I wasn't aware of how many students have wireless capabilities on campus."
Bidadi said that UCS would reevaluate its plans based on poll results. "That was definitely the point of doing the poll," he said. "I definitely think our priorities will be realigned by the results of the poll."
In a UCS poll last year, students strongly supported a winter term, according to Bidadi. "We wanted to know whether or not they would do it this year," he said. "The difference is the immediacy of the question when compared to the theoretical nature of it last year. Also there is a difference between asking if you would participate without much knowledge of how it would be organized."
Bidadi clarified what a winter term would entail. "We're working on putting a J-term program together for this year, but it's going to be mostly opportunities outside of Brown," he said. "Whereas in the future we'd like to offer special courses that aren't available in the school year."
Several questions evaluated the community's interest in UCS's pilot Internet Protocol Television program. The $60,000 project allows students to watch certain television channels through the Brown residential network. Of those who responded to the poll, 53.1 percent have used the program while 41.3 percent reported they have not. 45.6 percent would accept IPTV as an alternative to the cable services currently available in residential halls.
"We want to basically see how students use IPTV, whether they use it as a supplement or a substitute to the traditional TV system," Bidadi said.
The results of the poll are available on the UCS Web site.
