Last semester I had the opportunity to sit at the Student Government Association table during the President’s Open House.

In case anyone’s forgotten, this is when eager and ambitious future freshmen come up and ask questions to any of the hundreds of organizations present.

So I figured this wouldn’t be a big deal. After all, I had been on SGA for a year already so I could handle anything. But I soon realized that this was going to be a little bit more difficult when the first student came up and asked, “So, what does SGA do?”

I had an answer, of course, but as I spoke I realized how silly my answer sounded. So, I left there really questioning what the organization did.

I thought about it, and I can now state that there is no need for SGA.

There are two main functions of student government once you boil it down. SGA allocates funds and is responsible for chartering organizations. When I say “boil it down,” I mean you can throw out Quad parties and any other type of programming – that really is solely the responsibility of University Programming Board.

So, SGA has two purposes. Take a look at the first: the allocations process. As it is, student fees get collected and thrown into a giant community chest, if you will. That money is then distributed at the discretion of about 10 or so members of the student government.

Now the problem with this is that because Student A pays student fees there is an implied obligation that Student A should join campus organizations. Otherwise he won’t see any of the money contributed. Or, assuming Student A is in an organization, his group might not get any funding at all. So where did his money go?

The allocations process is stressful and can be very disappointing. But there is an easy alternative. Instead of throwing your money into a community chest, why not make sure it goes to where you want?

When the bill comes, maybe it should include a little slip of paper where you can write that you want half of your money to go directly to the this organization and the other half to go to another organization. What ever your interests are, make sure they get funded.

Or even easier, never pay the fees at all. Now, because most parents pay for college, they might not pass the money back to their kids for student groups, so perhaps the first day of school there can be a cash refund.

I don’t know what would work better, but it would ensure organizations got money representative of their membership.

Tied to this is the issue of chartering. Chartering exists because SGA likes to keep tabs on who can and can’t ask for allocations money.

So if the allocation process didn’t exist, there would be no need for chartering. Regardless, a removal of the chartering process would be better for the school in either case.

The chartering process requires a lot of paperwork, time and frustration. There may have been a lot of potential organizations that never coalesced because of the daunting charter process.

Forget about the paperwork, I would be scared to go in front of Congress for the actual vote. As someone who served, I can say SGA is downright vicious to groups seeking charter.

I can remember one time that certain members responded to a group’s petition with insults and degradation. Let groups rise and fall on their own. If a group doesn’t have members or support it will fall apart.

Think of it this way: what does SGA do in your day-to-day activities?

I, for one, can easily envision Loyola without SGA and it wouldn’t be that much different than it is now. The campus won’t plunge into chaos. I don’t foresee fire and brimstone coming down from the skies or rivers and seas boiling or dogs and cats living together.

I think most students would find a campus free of SGA a pleasant improvement. Besides, think of what we could do with all that space in the Danna Center.