I ran for student senate my sophomore year. My platform in a nutshell was this: "the only reason to run for senate is to pad your resumé, and I need that the most."
While I was disappointed in not winning, I felt better after reading story after story about the Senate in The Observer: It seemed like all they could do was pass resolutions suggesting the University to do one thing or another. My favorite story is one that a would-be colleague told me: Apparently, the senate once spent a good chunk of time discussing the different options the University could take on a particular issue, despite the fact that the University had already decided and acted on it. I think it's time we call the senate what it really is: a democratically elected suggestion box.
So before we let yet another fresh group of people claim they had leadership positions in their job interviews because they managed to get 15 people to vote for them in their dorm, I suggest that we restructure student government by simply eliminating the middleman and create an online campus-wide suggestion box. Just abolish the senate, and set up a Web site similar to the Facebook causes page where students can create an join groups that support the issues they care about. To increase awareness, The Observer can publish a list of the topics that generate most support on the Web site, and get the remainder of the Student Government to create issue-based committees to do any student-side work if there needs to be.
Jose Duarte
senoir
Knott Hall
Dec. 9
