There are folks on campus who devote a significant amount of time and energy working in and talking about student government via the General Assembly. A significant amount of people could really care less about student government - period.
So why am I writing this editorial about the GA? Well, after serving four months and five days as Speaker of the GA, (following the infamous chain of events that led to the resignation of former speaker Zachary Constantino), I have seen and heard a lot of the things about the body which I led. Most of it was negative, some of it positive. Now that the new leaders have transitioned, I'd like to clear the air as it were and for what it's worth, give you my take.
When I was elected speaker in last November, it was under less than favorable conditions. There had been a high-profile impeachment of a popular member, a vote of no confidence filed against the former speaker, significant political and ideological divisions existed, three members resigned as a result of unfavorable conditions, and membership in the assembly was down to 25 out of a total of 40 seats. In an editorial following my election, the GA was called a broken institution. The GA was, for all intents and purposes, a body looking for legitimacy.
What did happen following my election was a cultural change. The body became one no longer made up of College Republicans and College Democrats trying to balance each other out. Rather, folks that had never served in student government before gave service in the GA a chance. No longer were the politics of personal destruction the norm in the GA. Respect for all was the order of the day. GA members became more active in soliciting comment from constituents, and using those comments as the basis for legislation.
From November 2003 to March 2004, the assembly saw its membership rise to 39. The committees of the GA held open meetings to the public. The GA itself held meetings to solicit public comment. The GA started to experiment with making legislation and minutes available on Blackboard (with the eventual goal of making it accessible to the public).
The GA allocated funds to various departments to allow for high quality programming events, such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Desmond Tutu, Bob Dylan, Vanilla Ice and others. The GA also advertised more (for what it was worth) to encourage participation from the student body. What was probably one of our more crowing achievements was the creation of the Women's Initiative Department, which under limited resources, has provided the campus community with an excellent resource for not only programming events (the Vagina Monologues, Christina Hoff Sommers), but also for meaningful debate as to women's issues.
The GA is also charged with overseeing a fair elections process. Save the malicious poster burnings and the tearing down of campaign materials of some candidates, this year's election was run fairly and smoothly. The executive seats were all contested races and voter turnout was higher than it has been in years. A lot of this has to do with the hard work of Kyle Harding and his staff, for whom I thank for his service to the student body.
Some have called me a passive leader. Others have called the body which I led illegitimate and unnecessary. Student government is about compromise a lot of the time, and I sought to create an atmosphere in which the GA could do that. Passivity, that is not. As far as the GA being illegitimate and unnecessary, I challenge you to ask each of those people who have given up many hours of their time every week to address issues concerning student life and the like, and see what their response is. This idea that service in the GA is solely a resume builder is totally erroneous and inaccurate.
No - the GA is legitimate. The GA is relevant. And I am proud to have served with such a group of individuals that care such a great deal about their school and about the quality of life here at AU. The foundation had to be laid before the house could be built, and the actions of the assembly this past year lead me to believe that the potential for success this coming year is very high.
Hearing members of the public congratulate the director and performers of the Vagina Monologues for putting on a magnificent show was rewarding. Seeing students pile into Bender Arena to see Dylan, Tutu, Gorbachev, or filling the Tavern to see Andrew W.K. and Vanilla Ice was also rewarding. None of these things could have happened without the GA working together with the respective executive departments (SUB, KPU, Eagle Nights), while at the same time making a value judgment as to how to best spend the activity fee.
Seeing students show up to committee hearings and GA meetings to give us their input let me know that we were finally reaching out to our constituents and that they were finally seeing us as a body that could help them enable change.
Finally, thank you to those members of the Class of 2004 who voted for me, to the assembly and my staff for your confidence in me to lead, to Gail Hanson and Karen Gerlach for working with me and the GA as a whole, to Michelle Brownstein for giving me a pat on the back when I needed it, to all the new members of the assembly for giving the GA a chance; it really can be a vehicle of change, and thank you to all my friends who supported me even as I doubted whether I was making a difference.
The GA is a better institution today and continues to improve. I encourage the newly elected leaders to continue reforms and give the students what they deserve which is nothing short of results. I wish Speaker Bradbury, President Kanneth, Vice President Trombley, Comptroller Tidjani and Secretary Rea, along with the rest of the student leaders the best of luck. Welcome to the arena.
