The word on the street, if you believe it, is that our student government doesn’t do anything. This line of thought was especially visible during the brief Cityshuttle panic last week, when concerned students (with apparent confirmation from Transportation and Parking Services) worried that a pair of popular Cityshuttle routes would be cut from the rotation service.
The shuttle issue has since been resolved (the transportation program’s director denied the routes would be cut) but the panic brought an important point to a head: A lot of students feel cut off from their student government.
In the Facebook.com protest (organized independently by students), many posters lamented their perceived powerlessness, wondering if they even had representatives on the Transportation Advisory Committee, which makes recommendations to T&PS administrators.
Even though presidential candidate Dan Palay repeatedly pointed out during his campaign that he serves on TAC, substantial portions of the student body still have no idea where to turn to give input.
And it’s not especially difficult to see why. The best example of the limited back-and-forth between the student government and its constituents can be seen in the difference between the A.S. Web site and that of its older sibling, the Graduate Student Association.
Both the A.S. and GSA Web sites have a list of members, which is helpful for anyone who wants to find the people who serve as their voice on the council.
But take a look at the A.S. Web site’s list of committees – students’ only link to the administrators who make decisions about day-to-day issues like parking, student health and the organization of Price Center – and the roots of the disconnect are apparent.
The A.S. Web site encourages students to “”make a difference”” by joining a committee, but the only information offered is a disorganized document with vague descriptions of what each committee does. More importantly, there is no easily accessible list of who is on each committee.
Even students who have an inkling about the purpose of the University Centers Advisory Board are still left in the dark about who to contact if, say, they have an idea an how space should be allocated in the Student Center. Meanwhile, the “”committee reports”” button is a dead link.
In comparison, the GSA Web site has a complete and organized list of all committees on which graduate students sit, with useful descriptions of what each committee does. On a single page, you can find the student representatives on each committee, whether the committee has any vacancies and who the administrative contacts are. Beneath the contact list is a link to the minutes from each committee, so interested students can easily keep abreast of recent meetings.
The difference is stark.
Without accessible information about even the most basic functions of the student government, the barrier between the A.S. Council and the average student remains needlessly high.
Candidates from organized lobbies dominated this year’s election – like most others. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but a byproduct of this system is that unless you make political inroads early on, it becomes very difficult to find an open space in student government.
At the same time, the average student is cut off from the accomplishments of the current student government, simply because there is no central location from which keep an eye on them.
The most frustrating part of this lack of communication is that – when competent leaders have realistic plans to achieve plausible goals – the A.S. Council is actually fairly effective at getting things done. A.S. resolutions in support of the Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services and fair trade products have resulted in direct action from campus administrators, and our current government is slowly but steadily laying the foundation for increased student authority.
The incoming slate of student leaders has vowed to improve student involvement on campus – and the place to start is by removing the veil that surrounds our student government. After all, a representative government can only be as effective as its ability to communicate with the people it represents.
