Early this month, the Student Government Association (SGA) put little red arrows around campus, pointing at their accomplishments. Many, if not most, of these red arrows are pointing at changes made in years past like Outtakes and Rebecca’s Cafe, which makes sense – SGA hasn’t done a whole lot this year.
They haven’t touched upon the stalled YMCA dormitory project with any seriousness. Construction was supposed to start last June; no official statement, no Sense of the Senate, no hint that they’re working with the administration to get this thing going. When Vice President of City and Community Affairs John Tobin came to talk about it, the senators barely pushed him. Yet still, SGA lists overcrowding as a major issue when Bruce Ronkin, vice provost of undergraduate education visited the senate Jan. 30. The new dorm is set to give 720 more beds and more classroom space. This sounds like a pretty effective way to curb overcrowding, yet SGA has not confronted the university, which has been stalling for nearly eight months now.
With Ronkin present, one senator brought up overcrowding – step in the right direction. The vice provost went on to list the library card swipe system as a way to alleviate overcrowding because it would ensure that there were fewer non-students in the library – wrong. That’s not going to solve the fact that there are simply too many students on this campus. That’s what the new dorm is for. It needs to be built. The Institutional Master Plan, which dictates building plans, needs to be passed. These are things SGA should press the university on.
The administration doesn’t have to deal with overcrowding, the students do. If SGA is the body put here to advocate for students at large, they should do that.
Instead SGA decides to confront the MBTA on the threatened E Line cuts, and not even truly confront, but draft a letter and tack its name onto an existing movement, Students Against T Cuts. What’s more important, SGA? Weekend E Line service or the fact the administration is planning satellite campuses while its main campus is chock-full of logistical problems?
Then there was Knockout Barstool, which went to SGA to address the Blackout Party and ask for support. At the Jan. 30 meeting, they were given several minutes to speak, afterwards SGA decided it isn’t appropriate for the body as a whole to issue a statement. This is the most outwardly political movement on campus and the only one to directly challenge the university this semester. What does SGA do? They write it off as a specialty interest too niche for the Senate to address as a whole. They did nothing.
One thing they have done: Provide plenty of guest speakers. John Tobin, Bruce Ronkin, Vice President of Student Affairs Laura Wankel, Director of Campus Activities Jason Foster, etc. But with these speakers came a wave of the most banal and self-serving points from senators, like a complaint that the International Village dining hall silverware was not positioned on the rack like other dining halls. Now just imagine if they had constructive suggestions to work off of.
On a positive note, there has been very little in fighting, something that has permeated the senate in past years. In a semester where a meeting has rarely run over an hour and a half, it seems the senate may need a little tension to be productive.
If SGA spent more time advocating for students on issues that actually mattered, they wouldn’t need to put little red reminders of their accomplishments around campus. Students would know.
