On Wednesday, Dec. 4, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Student Association (SA) met to give feedback on ways to increase student engagement on the Learning Environment Survey (LENS), appoint new senators and a sustainability director and discuss a policy planning resolution.
Director of the Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning (CATL) Kristin Koepke presented to SA about LENS, a survey sent to students every semester that allows them to evaluate the instructors of each of their courses. The responses are then interpreted and, hopefully, implemented to improve the instructor’s teaching and student experience for the future, Koepke explained. She then asked SA for any suggestions to get more students to participate in the survey.
“A lot of times instructors come to us with their lens results and say, ‘Here’s some things that students said and I would like to know what I can do about that’. But when we have so few responses and so little data to look back on, … we can still have conversations of course, but the more information we have and the more information we’re hearing from you is really important from a development standpoint,” said Koepke.
SA shared some potential reservations students may have regarding the survey and Koepke addressed those points; She said LENS results are anonymous and not available to instructors until after the final grades are due.
During his adviser report, Director of University Centers and Student Engagement Kyle Burke announced that the Student Union will be hosting a “Study-a-thon” in the Entertainment Cafe from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12. “The U” hours will also be extended to Midnight on Dec. 12 and 13 for students to study for finals week.
Resolutions to fill the SA sustainability director position and two senator seats were passed unanimously. Felicia Ritzke, Anna Baxter and Ethan Fitzgerald were sworn in as sustainability director, School of Education senator and student at-large senator, respectively.
SA Vice President Avery Ladd-Winders introduced his resolution to establish a Policy Creation Advisory Ad Hoc Committee. If the resolution is passed at a future meeting, the committee would be student-run and focused on researching policy development on other Wisconsin universities and nationwide campuses. He explained that the goal will be to draft policy creation expectations that express the importance of shared governance groups being included in the university policy process.
Ladd-Winders also introduced a resolution to request a crosswalk indicator be installed on the intersection of West Avenue and Vine Street, which he said would hopefully keep off-campus students safer when walking to or from campus. Senator Piarulli introduced her resolution to approve the fiscal year 2026 budget for the Academic Initiative Differential Allocation Committee (AIDAC). The resolutions introduced at this week’s meeting will be voted on at a future meeting.
SA will meet again Wednesday, Dec. 11 to discuss old business.
