With a new semester comes a new opportunity for UCA to start fresh. UCA’s administration has already taken steps to improve relations with the UCA community and the media, giving hope that UCA is on the road to redemption in the public’s eyes.

At Monday’s board of trustees meeting, President Tom Courtway brought a resolution to the board to allow Faculty Senate, Faculty Staff and Student Government representatives to ask questions of administration at board meetings. Small steps like this one are how Courtway and the rest of the administration will redeem UCA’s image. UCA can only benefit from this decision to make board meetings a little more transparent and allow a little more participation from the people that the board serves.

Courtway also showed his seeming desire to be open and forthcoming with the community by bringing up a problem with his salary. At the board meeting, Courtway brought up a problem with his salary that said he received $9,000 in a vehicle stipend which was actually part of his normal salary. Courtway said he brought this up in the board meeting solely for the sake of candor. If Courtway continues to use this policy of honesty, UCA’s image may be a positive one again soon.

Last semester UCA had a series of problems with administration, including former President Lu Hardin being convicted of felonies, then-President Allen Meadors resigning in  controversy and then-Associate Vice President for International Engagement Alex Chen being demoted because he was overworking international students.

This semester gives UCA the ability to begin the long process of gaining back its community’s trust, which should be the university’s main focus this semester. The monthly “campus talks,” which are part of UCA’s strategic plan that it must follow to get reaccredited, are a great way to gain back that trust. By giving the UCA community a direct way to contact Courtway and other administrators, it makes the president seem more accessible, which in turn makes him seem more trustworthy to students and faculty.

During the board meeting, two new board members were introduced. Brad Lacy and Elizabeth Farris were appointed over the winter break as replacements for Randy Sims and Harold Chakales respectively. The two newest board members need to be honest with the community and avoid the past mistakes the board has made in deceiving the UCA community. If they do these two simple things, they will be assets to UCA in its recovery process. The two new members have been involved in the UCA and Conway communities in various ways, so they will hopefully have the campus’s best interests at heart.

UCA is also working on a new plan for reaching out to prospective students, which will help with the university’s image in the nearby community. The new plan will help UCA use social media better and find ways to bring students who dropped out back to UCA  as well as increasing recruitment.

Increasing ways to contact UCA may help change students’ minds who may only know UCA by the news stories about administrative scandals.

After last semester’s constant string of news stories about UCA’s problems with administration, students and faculty want a less dramatic semester. If the president, administration, and the board of trustees continue to be honest with UCA and the media, the university will be able to get past last semester’s woes and focus on making UCA a place students can be proud to attend.