Undergraduates for a Better Education, a group that advocates for improved education through communication with university administration, has returned to campus after an eight-year hiatus.

The group began in the 1980s and has continued to operate sporadically since then, said William Coplin, faculty advisor of UBE and professor of public policy at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

In the past, the group has garnered national attention in The New York Times and on The Today Show. Former Chancellor Kenneth “Buzz” Shaw worked to help UBE be a constructive force at Syracuse University in the 1990s, Coplin said.

Emily Ballard, president of UBE and sophomore political science major, said UBE was a national organization that used surveys, among other things, to bring certain issues to the attention of the administration.

The group’s last survey was conducted in 2005, after which the organization gradually disintegrated, she said.

Last year, Ballard and some classmates surveyed several College of Arts and Sciences students to get a general idea of feedback on education at SU, said Sawyer Cresap, a freshman political science major.

“Based on the horror stories they heard, and on their own, they decided to bring (UBE) back,” she said. “Even though I am only a freshman, I had some horror stories that I would like to be addressed, which sparked my interest in this group.”

Today, UBE is a research and interest group that seeks to encourage students, administrators and faculty to improve undergraduate education at SU, Coplin said.

UBE currently consists of six members, Ballard said. The six members are Ballard, Cresap and sophomore political science majors Mahlet Makonnen, Jessica Rapp, Carolina Vignola and John Prudente.

While UBE plans to further expand next year, it is currently conducting informal meetings with students and gathering “horror stories” in order to address these issues, Ballard said.

The main difference between UBE in the 1980s and UBE now is that students were more radical in their approach in the past. UBE now works more with the administration, Cresap said.

While the goals of UBE remain constant, its method of tackling these goals has changed, Ballard said.

“It is much easier to get in touch with a broad base of students now, thanks to technology,” she said. “In addition to that, the university structure is now more simplified with fewer levels of administrators, thus making it easier for us to get in touch with them.”

It is important that administrators are aware of the problems they are unable to see, Ballard said. It is even more important that students realize they are consumers of this education, and they have the right to demand the product that fits their needs.

Published on February 19, 2013 at 12:05 am

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