By ALYSHA BAXLEY

alysha@du2.byu.edu

With students' lives already so busy that they hardly have time to relax, many BYU students think that being involved with BYUSA is out of the question for them.

For most students, BYUSA remains a foreign body that throws dances and puts on fun activities every semester. But for some, BYUSA offers an opportunity to become involved and even change the way BYU is run.

These students comprise the Student Advisory Council. The mission statement of SAC says in a nutshell what students can expect from it: "The Student Advisory Council will unify campus by identifying relevant issues, determining the best possible solution and advising the administration accordingly."

SAC is the official organization of BYU for students to express their views and raise their voice to the administration.

SAC public relations representative Audrey Perry said the SAC body basically serves as a Student Senate like many schools across the nation have. The big difference is that SAC can only propose changes while the administration has the authority to actually carry them out.

"Our purpose is to serve as a liason between the students and the administration and make sure administration knows what student concerns are," Perry said. "We are the student voice on campus. Any issue or concern a student has, if they bring it to us, we take it to the administration."

Perry, 20, a sophomore from Orem majoring in broadcast journalism, works with SAC to increase student awareness of what SAC is and what they do.

"We can't serve the students unless they know who we are and how we can help them," Perry said.

If a student has a concern, they can contact SAC through the 100-hour board in the WSC basement or the bright ideas boxes located in every College Advisement Center They can also contact their college's representative through e-mail. A list of reps and e-mail addresses can be found at the SAC Web site at http://byusa.stlife.byu.edu.

The council meets twice a week to discuss the issues which have been raised by students. If an issue needs to be researched further, the concern is handed to a committee, research is done and eventually a proposal is written. After the proposal is written, it is taken to the administrative body that oversees the area in question.

The whole process is long, but when the issues are resolved and changes are made, SAC knows it. Being a part of the change feels great, Perry said.

Perry said every college and every aspect of student life is represented in SAC. There are two representatives per college and one per special interest group, such as the Multi-Cultural Student Organization and the Students with Disabilities Organization.

After students make their concern known, it is important that they don't disappear into oblivion.

Perry said that even though not everybody can be on SAC, every student has the opportunity to make a difference.

"We love for the students to work with the SAC representatives in solving an issue," Perry said. "You can make a huge difference if students work with the SAC representatives and the committee on an issue concerning them."

Students who are interested in being on SAC must notify their college chair that they want to be on SAC. They are then interviewed by the chair, then by SAC. After these interviews, the student may then be placed on SAC in a committee.

There are only five executive positions and 39 council positions to fill. Currently there are eight positions left to be filled on the SAC body. These positions are in the Humanities department, Law school and the Marriott School of Management, with one at-large and one United Clubs Council position also open.

Kira Olsen, 20, a junior from Mesa, Ariz., majoring in history teaching, said she got involved in SAC because she wanted to be involved with BYUSA in some way.

"I wanted to get involved somehow, and this is a place where what you do actually makes a difference," she said. "The people are fun and it's just fun to work on something that really matters."

Olsen said it feels great that a proposal her committee made recently is coming to fruition. Her committee proposed that BYU widen the sidewalks on campus, and it is being done.

SAC is currently working on issues which have become of high interest to the student body. There is a committee working on changing student ID numbers to numbers having nothing to do with Social Security numbers. There is also a movement to eliminate any Honor Code Policy discrepancies between athletes, non-LDS students and LDS students.

One issue that is of major importance to most BYU students is in the hands of the administration as a proposal right now. A SAC committee submitted a proposal last week to the BYU Housing Board which, if approved, would require BYU approved housing facilities to alter their contracts to include clauses which will better inform students as to their responsibilities concerning damages in the apartment.

This issue arose after many BYU students returned to their apartments after Christmas break to find their pipes had burst and flooded their apartments. Some apartment complexes are charging individual students saying it was the students' fault that the pipes burst. Students are fighting back saying they were never notified of the danger of the cold on the unused pipes and took it to SAC. SAC is now getting something done.

SAC meetings are open to the public and are held every Tuesday and Thursday at 4pm in 3290 WSC.

SAC offers many ways for students to become involved in campus issues, beyond being a representative on the committee. These opportunities range from polling students to helping categorize questions from the 100-Hour Board. A list of service opportunities and more information on each is available in the BYUSA office in the Wilkinson Student Center.



Copyright Brigham Young University 16 Feb 1999