Last year a grad student complained to GPC that he was unable to reserve a university field for his soccer team because the team was neither an IM team nor a sports club. He tried to register his team as a sports club, but was unable to because it did not include undergrads. It was never the university's intention to limit field use to undergrads, but because no grad students had raised the issue before, no mechanism was in place to accommodate grad students. Eventually GPC solved the problem by setting up a grad student sports club registration system. Grad students have unique needs that are not adequately addressed by programs and services designed primarily for undergraduates.
More communication is necessary to increase awareness of graduate student concerns.
Decision makers who solicit input from students should solicit input from graduate students as well as undergrads. Student group leaders planning activities for the entire WU community should invite grad students to participate in the planning process. There have been many recent efforts to increase communication between student groups so as to foster better understanding and cooperation.