Student Voice at AU, a growing Instagram account where students discuss what they like and dislike about life on campus, is releasing a third 'season' of nine webisodes later this month.
The account, which has over 700 followers at the time this story was reported on, was launched by School of Communication sophomore Thierry Gysler in late February. Then a Student Government senator, Gysler was asked to be a part of SG's “Fun Committee” to improve campus life by asking students for their input.
“It was supposed to be a group thing, but it ended up just me doing the work,” Gysler said.
Gysler said that when he met with staff from the Office of Campus Life to share the feedback that the Fun Committee received from students, administrators were less concerned with the suggestions of students and more concerned with data. This led Gysler to create Student Voice AU.
Gysler asked a friend from the SG Senate if he wanted to be a part of the first video. Soon, word got out and students started contacting Gysler and asking to be a part of the next production.
“Occasionally, someone was like 'Hey, I think my friend would want to do it, you should interview them’,” Gysler said.
One of these students was sophomore Jesse Hammel, who was featured in episode 15 of the series.
“I had a very close friend who lived on my floor freshman year, and he asked if I wanted to do an interview, and I said, 'for sure’,” Hammel said.
In his episode, Hammel discussed how he liked the School of International Service and the number of clubs available at AU, but also said that the shuttle system is unreliable and is rarely on time.
The format of Student Voice AU's videos is all the same: students say their names, pronouns, where they’re from, what they like about AU and one thing that they think the school could improve.
“We could've just asked students what they dislike about AU, but I don't find that very productive,” Gysler said. “So I ask them what they like about AU, so it's more of a balance thing.”
The new season will look similar to the previous two, but Gysler plans on asking more intimate questions, such as “What’s your favorite spot on campus?” and “What are you thankful for?”
Although Gysler wants to avoid having only negative viewpoints about the University in his videos, students such as Hammel think that is important to hold the University accountable and have a platform to do so.
“While it is run by a bunch of adults, the University exists for the reason of educating the youth of the future, and I think we should have a say in our University’s policy,” Hammel said.
