I am writing in response to last week’s attack on the Student Government Association (SGA):  “Column: SGA should just disolve already.” How can you, as a member of a student organization yourself, disrespect another hard-working organization by saying our university would be better off without SGA? I could just as easily say that the Huntington News should “just dissolve already” because it’s useless to me and the only time I ever read it is when someone posts a ridiculous link like this one on Facebook and I feel the need to defend a group where I spend four out of five nights of the week and countless hours working for on weekends. The disturbing thing is that you’re proposing the end of a student group.

I do not believe that Northeastern University would be better off if any of our groups disbanded, because the ability for everyone to join groups that they believe in and in which they can share their talents and passions is something that makes NU so special. It’s one thing to say that you disagree with SGA’s practices, or that there are things we could be doing better, but to devalue the hard work of over 100 members of your own student body by calling them worthless is, in a word, disgusting to me.

I am sorry that you don’t understand the point behind the direct election of Executive Vice President (EVP). The reason students can now vote for that position is because they asked to be able to do so. It may not seem important to you, but in the last election it was important to the majority of voters when they overwhelmingly voted in favor of a directly elected EVP. We listened to what the students wanted and we worked hard to make sure they got it. If you are curious about what EVP does, come to a meeting or ask. I don’t know what you do at the Huntington News besides write angry articles attacking SGA, but I’m also not going around implying that you don’t do anything and your position is useless.

I want to make sure you’re better informed about the whole Chick-fil-A situation, because that’s something that’s very important to me and I am extremely proud of the way SGA handled it. It is true that SGA advocated for Chick-fil-A three or four years ago when decisions about new Curry Student Center vendors were beginning to be made. This advocacy was in response to surveys done all over campus where the student body overwhelmingly voted to bring Chick-fil-A to campus. After that, it was out of our hands and the administration has spent the past three years working on contracts and figuring out how to bring this vendor to campus. Then, in the past few months when controversy came to light regarding Chick-fil-A, students rallied against it. I agree with you and I am very impressed with the action students took to get their voices heard. However, ultimately, there were groups for and groups against Chick-fil-A. That is why the administration asked SGA to make an emergency decision on where the students stood on the issue. They only gave us a few hours’ notice that they needed a decision, so we quickly updated all our social media accounts to allow students to come to our meeting and express their opinions. That was the best we could do on such short notice, and a good amount of people showed up to talk. We were in that meeting for a long time and we heard the opinions of everyone who wished to speak. In the end, and after a great amount of debate, we came to an agreement that everyone in the room was happy with and the administration took it very seriously and is not bringing Chick-fil-A to campus. So it’s true that the student body is great at coming together and making their voices heard, but it is also true that in most cases, the administration looks to us to collect all of the opinions we hear and give them our opinion of the situation before they make a decision.

The only thing I want to say on the subject of executive board stipends coming from the Student Activities Fee (SAF) is that stipends for executive board members are no longer in the SAF budget.

If you’re looking for a more up-to date list of things that SGA has done for the students, allow me to enlighten you: Rebecca’s was renovated. By the looks of it every single time I walk in the door, students are very happy about that. The library is open 24/7 now because of SGA. Check out the library at 4 a.m. and you’ll see very grateful students up late working on projects and homework. In addition, we have a shuttle running all night from the library so students that live off campus can get home safely. We’ve been holding weekly food drives for a local food bank, as well as a book drive to benefit underprivileged children in Boston. We helped out a lot with Diversity Week, which was a great success with high attendance. We fought for much-needed changes to university policy. We now have a student representing the student body on the Board of Trustees. Dining halls are open later and meal swipes at Outtakes are worth more and students have more of a selection. NUin has been created as a program for Jan-start students to help integrate them into the community and make them feel comfortable here. Workshops have been held for leaders of student groups to discuss ways to improve all student groups on campus. We have a weekly farmer’s market where tons of students can now buy fresh produce to support local businesses. Swipe printing in the library has dramatically decreased wait time and lines before class when you desperately need to print a last-minute assignment. These are only a few of the many, many initiatives which we have implemented in the past year or so. And I’m sure you’ve used and enjoyed multiple services on this list.

Finally, in response to this “free haircut” thing people can’t let go:  You are part of the reason people don’t pay any attention to SGA advertising, emails, Facebook pages, Twitter links, posters, events, etc. Things are advertised, but if you’re going to spread this “SGA is worthless, they don’t do anything of value” mentality then don’t be so surprised and put off when people listen to you and don’t know about things that we do. All the information on our website is public, our meetings are open to anyone from the student body who wishes to attend. If I was that worried about getting myself free haircuts, I would have done some research into how I could do that, but here’s the thing:  I don’t think people were too concerned about it until it became just another way to negatively target SGA.

In the future, I urge you to do your research and accurately represent student groups to the members of your university. We’re not just mindless drones wandering around thinking up ways to make students’ lives difficult. We love the university and want to make a difference, which is why we joined SGA in the first place and put so much time and energy into it. Think about the impact your words have. This column is hurtful to me on a personal level, but more importantly, it hurts the sense of community and sense of belonging that is so important at Northeastern. And if you have a problem with something, by all means, come to one of our meetings and share your thoughts and ideas with us; after all, that’s what we are constantly trying to get students to do so we can be better as an organization. But until you share constructive criticism rather than just angry and unhelpful criticism, all you’re doing is putting down the hard work and passions of your own fellow students.

– Amanda McAllister is a middler graphic design major and SGA Communcations and Events Committee Graphics Director.