For students who are new to campus, it is important to learn about how Eastern functions.

It can be easy to just go from your room to your classes and back without focusing on the day-to-day operations of the campus around you, but there are several important bodies at Eastern that we at The Daily Eastern News think that you should know about.

The first is the Board of Trustees. The BOT, to put it simply, has a role in every major policy decision at the university level and oversees the operations of Eastern.

It also approves hires for the university, including up to the level of university president.

Another body on campus is the Council on Academic Affairs. The name is appropriate, as the council approves changes to academic programs.

Among the CAA’s duties is to vote on new courses, proposals to amend existing courses and changes to majors, minors and other academic programs.

Faculty Senate is another body at Eastern that students should be aware of. Along with CAA and several other councils, Faculty Senate makes up the shared governance system at Eastern.

The members of the senate represent the faculty in matters concerning things related to the university

All of these bodies have scheduled meetings throughout the semester that are open to the public.

We do not expect students to attend these meetings or necessarily be aware of what occurs in the meetings. But it is important that students be aware of these bodies and what roles they play on campus.