Students at Madison College’s Truax campus were recently asked which of the Student Senate’s four main initiatives is the most important to them: textbook cost reduction, improved academic advising, instructor and course assessments, or enhanced commuter services.

Textbook cost reduction resounded with students the most with 45 percent of the vote.

Following this were improved academic advising at 30 percent, instructor and course assessments at 17 percent, and enhanced commuter services at 8 percent.

Joe McDonough, the Senate’s vice president of public relation, said the purpose of the Oct. 31 survey was to provide the Senate with “an idea of which initiatives we should focus our time on the most.”

“We’re going to expand the survey on textbooks and academic advising because those are the ones that seem to have the most interest from the students,” McDonough said.

McDonough was pleased with the level of response from the students to the initial survey. He said the Senate collected more than 140 responses in just four hours of tabling.

“I was blown away that in such a short time we were able to get such a big response from the students,” he said, adding that student input is necessary for almost any Senate initiative.

McDonough said the Senate expects to conduct additional surveys soon and hopes to supplement the data collected with video testimonials from students.

“We are considering expanding to video testimonials as a way to share student opinion with the various college councils,” McDonough said. The hope is that college officials who are “making policy decisions can hear what the students are thinking and struggling with in regard to textbooks and advising.”

McDonough emphasized that as the Student Senate continues to focus on these issues, it would appreciate and value all student feedback.

Students who would like to share their experiences or assist with these initiatives can contact the Student Senate at [email protected] or 608-246-6107.