The approval rating of the Undergraduate Council of Students increased 13 percentage points from the fall to 52 percent - the highest figure in three years.
Though relatively few students, just 13 percent, said they strongly or somewhat disapproved of UCS's performance, more than a third of students had no opinion of the Council.
UCS Communications Chair Clay Wertheimer '10 said he considered the numbers "positive."
"More people are now informed about what UCS is doing ... and people like the projects we've been working on," he said.
UCS President Brian Becker '09 said he had "no idea what accounts for the change."
"I think all year long UCS has been working really hard," he said.
The number of students who approve of the way UCS is handling its job is at its highest point since the spring of 2006, according to the results of a recent Herald poll.
In a similar poll conducted last semester, UCS received the lowest approval rating in at least three years, just 38.1 percent.
The poll, conducted from March 16 through 18, has a 3.6 percent margin of error with 95 percent confidence. A total of 676 Brown undergraduates completed the poll, which The Herald administered as a written questionnaire to students in the University Mail Room at J. Walter Wilson, outside the Blue Room in Faunce House and in the Sciences Library.
Other members of the UCS executive board cited the effects of increased outreach as a possible source of the improved poll results.
"It's certainly possible that some changes in our communications strategy and outreach have made people more aware of what we try to do," UCS Vice President Mike MacCombie '11 said.
MacCombie said office hours in the Sharpe Refectory allowed the Council to better address students' concerns. Students can meet with UCS members during the office hours, while other members circulate throughout the dining hall and approach students about campus issues.
Wertheimer and Student Activities Chair Ryan Lester '11 both said that UCS's implementation of monthly e-mail updates to the student body and a decision to box-slip a midyear report for every undergraduate have increased student awareness of what the group does.
Lester said UCS had not done a good enough job in the past of educating first-year students about its activities, but that it is making improvements. Lester said changing the rules to confer membership on any student who collects a certain number of signatures has been a step in the right direction.
Still, a large number of Brown students, 35.5 percent, hold no opinion of UCS.
Becker said some students "underestimate UCS" and its impact on daily life at Brown.
Lester said "there always will be a bloc of students that will just not have enough information to answer the question."
"We can always do better (educating students) but I think we've done a great job," he said.
UCS members said they planned to further expand outreach efforts to reach proportion of students uninformed about the Council's activities.
"There's a lot that could be done," Wertheimer said. Positive reaction to the midyear report has led Wertheimer to plan a similar report for the end of the academic year, he said, outlining "what we delivered on and what goals remain for the following year."
Becker said the report will allow students to "hold UCS more accountable."
MacCombie said he would like to add office hours at the SciLi or the Blue Room to reach students who are not on meal plan.
Sparing no avenue of communication, UCS members are also attempting to keep the Brown community abreast of the Council's activities in real time.
"UCS has also recently jumped on the Twitter bandwagon," Wertheimer said.
