Being a student at a medium-sized university can lead to feeling disconnected from the decisions being made behind the scenes. Decisions that affect the daily operations and activities of students on campus. The estimated 7,000 students that attend the University of New Haven deserve to be included in the decision-making process more than they presently are.

For example, the university recently unveiled their new electric vehicle charging stations. While these serve an important purpose, they replaced a number of commuter parking spots without any prior notice. The complete overhaul of the parking system this summer shows the same problem: students were not part of the process of making these changes.

This can cause the students to feel like there is no tangible change happening. Issues that have bothered students over the years, notably food and parking, remain issues in many students’ eyes today. This is despite said problems being constantly publicized and critiqued.

When the university is looking at changes to make, it is critical for them to turn to the very people these changes affect. The students best know and understand how life is at this school and they have a number of ideas that could go a long way towards improving life on campus.

There are many other factors that go into such decisions and the whole student body recognizes this. But this is a big way to not only improve student happiness but also improve the university, from the perspective of those paying tuition.