As students at UW-Whitewater, we are lucky to have a voice on campus. We have many opportunities to express our opinions and bring issues to the attention of administrators. Students with ideas of how to improve our university should take advantage of these opportunities.

The university is here to serve students and administrators take our thoughts into consideration while making improvements to campus. If we do not bring issues or ideas to their attention, there is no way they make changes we need.

There are many resources that can be used to make administrators aware of problems that must be solved or ideas that can be implemented to improve life for students and staff.

Whitewater Student Government works closely with university faculty to improve our campus community. As representatives of the student body, WSG’s goal is to make our university the best it can be.

Students can talk to any district senators about problems students face or ideas to benefit our campus. Occasionally, WSG has a table in the University Center where students can approach senators and voice opinions. Issues can also be submitted through the WSG website.

A section of the WSG meeting agenda is reserved for student issues and concerns. During this portion of the meeting, students not involved with WSG can voice their opinions or discuss issues they feel strongly about. They do not need to request to be added to the agenda in order to speak.

After being alerted to an issue, WSG can discuss it at a meeting and help come up with a plan of action to solve it. They can also bring issues to the attention of campus administrators.

The university also is active both on Facebook and Twitter. Students can use these social media outlets to express their opinions about university-funded activities, food services and any other topic related to campus.

Students can follow UW-Whitewater on Twitter @UWWhitewater or like University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on Facebook.

The Residence Hall Association and other organizations also help bring issues to the attention of administrators.

The Royal Purple is another resource students can use to express opinions. Its purpose is to be the voice of the students. By writing a letter to the editor, students, staff and community members can openly discuss issues or bring up ideas for improvements.

Letters to the editor can be submitted directly to the Royal Purple office or to [email protected].

Last year, an editorial was written for the Royal Purple about the need to make dorm resources such as laundry machines and kitchens more accessible to visually impaired students. After the article was published, the Office of Residence Life purchased a Braille labeler to ensure all students can easily use the resources residence halls offer.

Students also can suggest story ideas to the Royal Purple. Stories can often be run to inform readers about issues, events or ideas brought to the newspaper staff’s attention.

Writing a letter to the editor or suggesting an idea for a story can bring an issue to the attention of everyone who reads the Royal Purple and can lead to changes being made.

University administrators cannot know about problems we have if we do not bring them to administrators’ attention. It is the responsibility of students to bring up issues that impact campus. If we speak up, we will only see the university improve and grow.

As students, we have a voice. We just need to make sure we use it.