Last spring semester, Student Government Association elections were held. A friend of mine, Mr. S., as I shall refer to him to keep his identity secret, ran for the office of College of Arts and Sciences Representative.
He did not manage his campaign well. In fact, he failed to put up a single poster or hand out one flyer. As a result, he received very few votes, the least votes of any candidate running for that poisition, as a matter of fact.
But this didn’t stop him. It just so happened that that particular semester, only 12 candidates ran for the 12 available positions.
A lack of votes could not stop him. He filled out the required paperwork, and his campaign didn’t violate any regulations, so he now quietly holds the title “representative.”
Mr. S is not what you’d call a great representative. He’s pretty lazy and apathetic.
If a sign-up sheet is passed around a meeting, and someone is begging for volunteers, Mr. S is not going to put his name on that list unless he thinks he can get a free meal out of the charitable act.
He misses all sorts of deadlines and mandatory events. This is certainly not a reflection of all the representatives in SGA. Most of them volunteer for anything not life-threatening and are devoted enough to show up on holiday mornings if asked politely.
SGA is a rather powerful organization. It decides how much to charge each student to support activities on campus.
It decides which organizations are worthy of receiving money from the student funds and how much to hand out. It even decides who is worthy of being an official on-campus organization. This is more responsibility than Mr. S needs to have.
Fortunately for Loyola, Mr. S has very little power. If SGA were a typewriter, Mr. S would be the tilde key, only employed when visiting Spanish-speaking dignitaries wish to be referred to as “Señor” rather than “Senor.”
And, Mr. S assures me, none of these visits have occurred since he took office.
But, there is a bright side here. Mr. S has proved that anyone can be part of SGA. So, go run for SGA next election. Sure, you might not be as lucky as him, getting elected by default, but don’t let that discourage you.
There are many representative seats (Mr. S can’t seem to remember the exact number), and it’s a pretty easy job.
Certainly, a representative can be as hard-working and involved as the president of SGA, but it’s not required.
Go on, give SGA a shot. It might be a little work, but do you really want to let Mr. S have another term? Do you want him voting against giving money to a Big Brothers/Big Sisters charity event and trying to halt environmental protection legislation?
Of course not. Print some flyers and sit through a meeting, and you’re on your way to being an active member of the SGA.
Think of the power you might have: voting against freedom of speech and denying organizations money if they don’t cross the T’s on their budget applications.
And take it from me – it’s probably better for Loyola that anyone other than Mr. S is voting as a part of SGA.
~ Matt Smith is a mathematics junior and an arts and sciences representative.
