Students had a chance to sit face-to-face with the head honcho at ASU Wednesday during President Michael Crow's student office hours.
Ten students came to dish out questions, comments, requests and criticism, while obtaining constructive feedback in return from Crow.
Crow said he has been offering open office hours to students once a semester for two years and has received invaluable feedback as a response.
"I consider [student comments] very important," he said "I view this as anecdotal evidence and engage in every issue. It's an important way to listen."
Students voiced their opinions on topics ranging from class access, grades and construction issues on campus, Crow said. Every issue is taken into consideration when implementing ASU policy and planning future endeavors for the University, he added.
"We react to every issue," he said. "We nail them to the ground and we take every issue and implement them according to student feedback."
Crow said he maintains contact with the student body by interacting with student groups, e-mails, lecturing at ASU 101 classes, and putting out occasional podcasts.
"Is it enough? I don't know," he said. "But it's working. We receive every student's message and we respond to every e-mail."
Liz Simonhoff, ASU Undergraduate Student Government president, co-chaired the meeting with Crow. It was the first time she sat in with him and said it won't be the last.
Simonhoff said it made sense for her to sit in on the hours because she works with Crow often.
"We are both accountable for their needs," she said.
Although only 10 students showed up to the open session, everyone is welcome to sit in on the meeting after submitting a request on the Office of the President's Web site.
Simonhoff said she is working on getting the word of its availability out to the entire school.
"Anybody is more than welcome to come," she said. "Students had legitimate comments and concerns and we were able to actually facilitate a meaningful discussion."
Student needs are respectively evaluated and highly influence the way decisions are made around campus, Simonhoff said.
Students that attended the meeting will be contacted in the near future to make sure their needs have been met, she added.
Molecular biology senior Cory Sanchez attended the meeting representing an entrepreneurial club on campus. He said he went in order to ask Crow if he would speak at one of the club's meetings, while asking Simonhoff to increase the group's funding.
"[The meeting] was pretty much just like a handoff type of thing," Sanchez said.
"It's one of those things where I could tell [Crow] was into the idea, but I didn't really know where to go from there or what to expect."
Sanchez said the overall response from the meeting was satisfying and he was able to meet some good contacts, but does not believe Crow is able to personally address every issue.
"[Crow] can't do everything," he said. "Some people go in there and think he has this Superman button and he can just push it and do anything, but it's not like that. I wish more students would come to see."
Students are encouraged to apply for face time with Crow by submitting a request on the Office of the President's website at www.asu.edu/president. The spring semester meeting has not yet been posted.
Reach the reporter at daniel.oconnor@asu.edu.
