The University of Maine should find more ways to push student media to the forefront of student engagement. Currently, student outlets are dependent on engagement from other students. I found that there are many spaces around campus where I could see more student media. I visited the Bear’s Den on multiple occasions and always left wondering why the student-run radio wasn’t playing. I feel that it would be the perfect opportunity for students to hear student media. On your way to the Union, you occasionally find clubs tabling and advertising their organizations to other students. I think that the Union is the perfect collaborative space for students to find ways to engage with the atmosphere. If the University wants meaningful student engagement, they should find ways to insert student media into the different spaces around campus. It is extremely important for students to find ways to interact with campus media and I think it is equally important for students to know that the university is supporting student based media.
UMaine benefits from the students committing time and effort into projects from platforms given to them from the University. I find that it would be beneficial and that it would boost morale if creative students knew that UMaine wanted to feature their work through the halls of the institution. I would be pleasantly surprised if I heard the voices of the student radio in the dining hall, and I would be happy to see in the halls of different buildings, different creative projects uplifted and featured by administration.
If I was in control of everything, I would strive to make everything accessible. I find that the student radio, student media and student organizations should not be distant to the students who live and rely on the University space to be their community. At the end of the day, the campus has become a place for many people to live and thrive and for that I find that it is the obligation of the university to elevate these communities. By positioning student organizations as something that is elevated through the effort of the University, not only would students benefit, but the University would benefit from the thriving sense of community.
