The debate last week between Ryan Fox and Matt Soleyn, the Stud-ent Gov-ernment Associat-ion’s (SGA) candidates for president, was about as frustrating as the Facebook redesign or the current season of ‘Lost.’ I don’t know why, but it seems both candidates forgot they were students.
There they were, suited up, referring to each other as ‘My opponent,’ ‘Mr. Soleyn’ or ‘Mr. Fox.’ They talked like professional politicians, dodging questions and sticking to talking points. Reason seemed to fade away as the hour-long debate went on, and as some of The News staff left, one reporter in his first year of writing for the paper asked, ‘Were the two earlier debates such a shitshow?’
But the most absurd thing about this election was a specific campaign promise:’ Soleyn’s pledge to follow the will of the student body. That’s not what the student body needs, nor what we deserve. We deserve a leader with ideas of his or her own who can make the often cantankerous SGA get stuff done.
My criticism of Soleyn isn’t part of some liberal media bias, as he claimed on his website after the last issue of The News. It’s based in reality ‘- there’s no way for SGA to find out what every student wants. They’ve struggled in the past to even get 20 percent of the student body to participate in their direct elections. And I don’t know for sure, but I’d bet a few bucks that their surveys on the myNEU portal ‘- which always seem to be about fast food restaurants on campus ‘- get even less.
What the SGA Senate needs to do this year is realize it is made up of students who care a lot about the student body and are educated enough to make decisions that will benefit the students. So many students cannot name the provost or the president, but SGA has had dialogue and discussion with Provost Stephen Director and President Joseph Aoun. They’re the people who should be making decisions. We, the student body, aren’t all that smart. Instead, we’ve entrusted you to make informed decisions on our behalf.
As silly as SGA seems at times (anyone remember the NU Governator?), they keep busy. Current President Rob Ranley and his predecessor, Joey Fiore, are and were regularly in the Curry Student Center working long hours.
Unadulterated populism isn’t right for Northeastern. We’re too diverse for that to work. And, even more, we’re too big. There are 15,339 of us from all around the globe and the only thing we really have in common is that we’re getting a Northeastern education. On top of all that, most of us aren’t even that involved:’ According to the admissions department, just a third of students are involved in any student group at all.
Students should be involved in SGA’s decision-making process, and students who are informed and passionate about a certain issue should be closely consulted. But SGA needs to realize they’re fully capable of doing their job. And the next president of the organization needs to realize that, too. A pledge to veto any senate proposal that goes against the will of the student body is nothing more than a campaign promise. Veto bad ideas. Veto ideas that disproportionately benefit a specific segment of the student body. But don’t veto something just because it’s unpopular.
Regardless of who wins, Fox or Soleyn, SGA has a chance to start again. Get to the important issues. Challenge the administration. And please, lose the suits. You’re one of us, remember?

‘- Matt Collette can be reached at [email protected].