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You are here: Home / Opinion / The importance of student government

The importance of student government

February 22, 2017 by Andersonian Staff

Every election matters—even the ones on small Christian campuses like AU. That’s why, when voting ensues tomorrow after chapel, it is vital for students to take part in the election process.

Although it seems insignificant, involvement in student government can bring great change to campus. Voting in the general election is one of several steps that students can take to be involved in SGA.

Beyond voting for the duo that will lead our student body in the 2017-18 school year, students can run for senate in the fall or submit concerns to current senators, which are reviewed weekly by the senate.

SGA acts as the voice for students to the administration, which means that those we elect truly do make a difference. Our support of student government is, in essence, support for our own good on campus.

Issues exist on our campus—how frequently do people complain about the WiFi, the poor food quality or the less-than-one-ply toilet paper? And yet, how infrequently do people submit official complaints to SGA?

Perhaps the issue here is that students are unaware of the ease of submitting a complaint to a senator, or perhaps they don’t care about the issues quite as much as they like to talk about them. Either way, student government exists for us—the students—and it is up to us whether it accomplishes anything or not.

This is not to say that submitting a complaint will automatically increase the quality of our toilet paper or suddenly cure our Chartwells blues. However, nothing can be done if we don’t cooperate with our own system.

Student government matters, as does our participation in it. Administration isn’t against us, but they can’t help us unless we are willing to call out what we have problems with.

SGA doesn’t exist solely as a middle man between students and Administration; it also facilitates the startup of new clubs on campus, as well as offers financial support for certain club events and activities.

Without SGA, students would lack the ability to effectively communicate with administrators on campus. With a poorly run student government, students would also lack that channel of communication. On the other hand, however, an SGA with excellent leadership and good campus presence has the potential to affect real, substantial change for the good of its students.

The presidential candidates for the 2017-2018 school year each bring different qualities and skills to the table. Both duos hope to tackle the issues that students care about most, and both hope to do so with grace and wisdom.

Who will lead us into our 101st year as an institution? It’s up to us to decide.

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The Andersonian, the student newspaper of Anderson University, Anderson, Ind., publishes a print edition and maintains this website. As a matter of institutional policy, the University administration does not review or edit Andersonian content prior to publication. The student editors are responsible for both print and online content. While the administration recognizes the role of the student press on a college campus and in journalism education, the views expressed in the Andersonian are not necessarily those of Anderson University.

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