Despite what you hear or read, faculty and staff were not the only ones in attendance at the College of Liberal Arts 2015 meeting Nov. 12. I was there, too.

IâÄôm an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota âÄî the only undergraduate available, apparently, to represent the thousands of students that the CLA 2015 document will affect.

Dean Jim Parente spoke about making liberal arts more visible in this challenging time. He also said he wanted students to know what it meant to get a liberal arts education.

Why is it, then, that I was the only undergraduate in attendance?

Is it because the CLA 2015 report was released on a Monday, advertised to a bare minimum and then discussed in two one-hour meetings just a few days after its release?

Or is it that undergraduates really do not care?

If so, why donâÄôt they care? WeâÄôre being shoved through this leviathan called the University as quickly as possible, only worrying about how weâÄôre going to fulfill requirements to graduate without enough time to stop and notice what is happening around us âÄî or, without being told what is happening. And now the CLA 2015 report is being shoved through just as quickly, under the radar, so there is not enough time to see, let alone comment on it.

It would have taken one simple e-mail âÄî not unlike several I have received about the presidential finalist (now the president-select) Eric Kaler âÄî to inform the entire student body about CLA 2015 and the meetings that took place.

Even if the majority of students had instantly deleted the message and only four more undergraduates would have showed, thatâÄôs still three more than one. Then, at least, we have been informed and we could make the decision whether we want to be involved.

The appearance of transparency is not enough. Using two one-hour meetings as a way to say the public had a chance to speak up is a poor defense mechanism. More people need to be informed about what is happening within CLA, within that document, in order to âÄúmake liberal arts more visible.âÄù It does not suffice to show the exterior, shiny package of what the liberal arts are and what they can do for us once we venture out into the world. The goings-on inside the University also need to be visible.

The nasty cuts and downsizing that will inevitably happen need to be available for everyone to consider and discuss. I appreciate how difficult this committeeâÄôs job is, but if you invite more people to see, more solutions will surely become available.