Some college council advisers will enforce stricter control over social media, finances and community events within the organizations this year.
These changes are part of a larger plan to ensure University-sponsored organizations act in accordance with the mission and goals of the school, according to an email from Cassandre Alvarado, senior associate dean and Communication Council adviser.
Almost every college at UT has a college council made up of students who “provide programming on the academic environment, student-faculty interaction, and the university community,” according to the Senate of College Council’s website. Members work on committees to create content, policy change and community engagement on behalf of their respective colleges.
These councils are sponsored student organizations, which means that their purpose must align with the mission of the University or college and their actions must be supervised and approved by University administrators.
In previous years, the enforcement of administrative approval for the Communication Council of Moody College has been much more lenient, with students having autonomy over official social media accounts and non-academic events. This year, their adviser must have access to the council’s Instagram to approve posts, members said their adviser told them at a meeting.
Alvarado wrote that this enforcement is consistent with preexisting University policy, citing the University catalog.
“Oversight of budgets, funding, communication channels and events has always been the responsibility of the sponsoring unit,” Alvarado wrote. “Our intent and plan for this year is to ensure the Communication Council activities operate in line with the overall mission and goals of our office and Moody College.”
These changes are not unique to the Communication Council. Sources confirmed changes to the School of Social Work council as well. College councils for nursing, pharmacy, fine arts, public affairs, natural sciences, education, senate, business, architecture, geosciences, graduate nursing and liberal arts were contacted but did not respond to requests for comment or for statements.
Social work council members, who asked to remain anonymous because they agreed to interview without approval from their adviser, said they are frustrated with pushback from their adviser against their attempts to create a LinkedIn, HornsLink and Slack channel.
“We have to get approval for every single little thing we do, which is just crazy and sets us back a lot,” a Social Work Council member said. “Especially when it comes down to how we’re communicating with our members, that’s where we feel the most censoring part of this.”
A spokesperson from the School of Social Work wrote in an email that the council’s request to set up a Slack and LinkedIn has been referred to other University teams, and that, while they have not accessed funding from the Senate of College Councils, the Social Work Council has been given funding through the school.
Although councils are experiencing changes, a Communication Council member who wished to remain anonymous said connections within the organization remain strong.
“I truly don’t see much of a difference in the interpersonal dynamic from the outside, just because everyone has an understanding (that) there are a lot of changes happening right now,” the member said. “Everyone’s mindset is ‘Let’s just take the best, most positive approach of this.’”