Computer science junior Alan Hogan has taken it upon himself to give a new voice to student concerns in an effort to fix ASU.
Hogan is the creator of FixASU.com, a Web site that went up less than three weeks ago, where students can post their ideas for ways to improve ASU.
So far, students have posted 11 different suggestions.
The list of ideas will be delivered to ASU before the end of the year, Hogan said.
He hopes the list will give administration officials a better idea of what students want to see done.
“It’s nothing until you can quantify it from an administrative point of view,” Hogan said.
Virgil Renzulli, vice president of the Office of Public Affairs at ASU, said President Michael Crow has always been very open with students.
“We would look at this very seriously,” Renzulli said. “It’s the sort of thing where you have to look at the reasonableness of [the suggestions].”
What the University can do depends on what the suggestions are and also how expensive they would be to enact, he said.
Renzulli said the University uses a variety of methods to get student input. The Office of the President is very good at replying to letters and e-mails, he said.
However, economics junior Taylor Jennings expressed doubts as to whether the project would meet with any success.
“I think the [administration is] more concerned with keeping the amenities that we have right now without having to raise tuition,” Jennings said.
But biochemistry junior Brittany Nix said the Web site is a good idea.
“I think it’s a good way for our voices to be heard,” Nix said. “Hopefully [Hogan is] successful in his goals.”
Hogan’s major inspiration for the Web site was another site with similar objectives called PleaseFixTheiPhone.com, where visitors can make suggestions on how to improve the iPhone, he said.
“I thought we should have something like this for ASU,” Hogan said. “I knew that other people had to have similar feelings.”
Visitors to FixASU.com can also vote for the suggestions they like best.
Some of the top suggestions listed include replacing Blackboard with better course software, adding more electrical outlets to Brickyard classrooms and placing recycling bins next to all trash bins on campus.
Several of the suggestions posted on the site came from Hogan himself in order to get the site rolling, he said.
“I seeded the site with a number of issues that I was concerned about, or I thought others would be,” Hogan said.
Because a student operates the Web site, worries about conflicts of interest are removed from the project, Hogan said.
It helps eliminate student concerns that the University would delete or disallow suggestions that it considered to be non issues, he said.
Hogan said he hopes the site will be a start for “conversation leading to positive action where appropriate.”
He said he is willing to act as an intermediary for students and encourages administration to contact him but is not opposed to being helped in his efforts by fellow students as well.
"I'm kind of hoping people just tell friends and fellow students about it," said Hogan.
Reach the reporter at deborah.bevers@asu.edu.
