Sell students on the plan: If students are to be a part of innovation goals, then comprehensive student buy-in is essential

Innovate@Carolina could significantly change the student experience at UNC ­— so, it would be a good idea to communicate the vision to all students.

Listening to Chancellor Holden Thorp on University Day, visitors might have thought they had come to the University of Innovation.

At center stage was “Innovate@Carolina” — the new innovation roadmap.

It’s certainly a visionary document, calling for $125 million of investment in programs affecting the University and community. The plan includes both concrete initiatives and a culture of innovation, intended to affect students.

So, it is unfortunate that the average student is unlikely to have heard of it yet, outside the select student innovation team led by Shruti Shah.

It is understandable that the time pressures hindered major student consultation, given the road map was put together in just a year.

But if the Chancellor wants innovation at the University to include more than just niche groups within the student body, then comprehensive student input must be a high priority.

The members of the Chancellor’s Student Innovation Team represent some of UNC’s best and brightest.

But they cannot guarantee student buy-in alone.

Opposition to the recent Innovation Hub funding proposal, because of poor communication of detail to students, should serve as a cautionary tale for administrators — even for projects which do not require student funding.

It is all very well to make plans for the benefit of students. But often students are left to the fringes of the process, to the detriment of plans.

Shah and her team should be commended for their efforts so far and their commitment to communicate plans to other students across campus.

But this isn’t just the job of the Student Innovation Team: if Chancellor Thorp is truly committed to the student aspects of the innovation plan, he needs to lead right now in bringing his vision of innovation to the whole student body.

And if innovation becomes more than just a sound bite for the average student, then the goals of the road map are more likely to be achieved.