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| What does Senate mean to you? | ||
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| According to the Student Handbook:
Student senate provides a democratic procedure to serve student needs, coordinate student activities, and promote the general welfare of students. The purposes of student senate include increasing communication between students, faculty, staff and administration. Student senate works to improve residential and campus life and to increase awareness of issues. POINT: Senate accomplished the following Senate gave financial support for the following: KWAR conference Gathered Student Input About: -Meal plan Other things Senate has done this year: - Formed focus groups, designed, helped in the naming process and assisted in the sign-up process for the new living area on campus and for the preliminary drawings of the new union - Hosted the first faculty dinner COUNTERPOINT: The other side of the issue By Justin Skolnick Though you might take the relationship between your Student Senate representative and yourself for granted, I consider myself blessed to know mine. My floor representative last year may very well have descended to the Clinton (under)Ground I have twice called home, but to my knowledge did not once stop to ask me and my floormates, "What do you think?" It was not until this year that I felt a connection to Senate, that my concerns had the slightest chance of being heard outside of my friends' dinner table ranting. We share a common frustration: Now that I have paid, I am unimportant; it is only my money that matters. This year Clinton Ground North welcomed Senator Doug Vaughan to the floor and to the dinner table, as a representative and a friend. He shares many of our concerns and is more than willing to voice them on our behalf, however futile these attempts at change may be. I think Doug may be an exception, one of the few-note that I did not say only-in Senate who truly cares for something more than the prestige of his position: the fancy dinners, the camaraderie, the M&M-filled mugs that accompany a representative seat. And let's not forget how "Student Senator" must look on a job resume! I fear Wartburg's Student Senators are the victims of a society that rewards shameless self-interest. Our unfortunate duty as Americans is to take as much as we can. It is a disease, largely unrecognized as such. It has spread through the work of Washington lobbyists and corporate advertising, making its way from Wall Street to Main Street, to every branch of American life. And it has devoured the halls of Wartburg College. I do not mean to imply that this self-centeredness is limited to Senate, nor that all or even most of our Student Senators are dirty opportunists. However, I do seriously question the notion of Senate as the voice of the Student Body, especially in light of its readiness to dismiss a 700-signature petition calling for the institution of a day in remembrance of Martin Luther King. Nearly half the Student Body spoke, and Senate pretended to not hear, despite clauses in Senate's constitution (Article VI, Section 3; Article VIII, Section 2) requiring action "upon the request of twenty-five percent of the Student Body." Only with the presence of what could be interpreted as an angry mob did Senate act on the proposal. Here's an interesting story: During this year's Student Body presidential debate in Buhr Lounge, several frustrated students attacked Senate's seeming indifference to their concerns. In defense of the criticism a Senator replied that she already had "enough on my plate" to worry about, and discussing campus issues with her constituents really didn't fit into her schedule. Said Student Body VP McNamara later, "That's the kind of person we want on Senate." If by this he meant active students, then I have to agree. But by no means should we allow for overbooked Senators, students who simply know what we're thinking without bothering to ask. Perhaps I read too much into Senate's role as the voice of the Student Body. An example: While it is a standard business form, the new 60-days-to-pay plan from our friends in the Controller's Office was nothing short of mandate. Senate's voice in this matter was limited to a few comments, solicited only after the administration's decision had been made. Apparently Senate's only real job is to distribute money to campus organizations and to assist in the development of overpriced apartment-style housing and its new cost-saving meal plan. Another of Senate's projects this year has involved a reported $19,000 refund from HBO. Of this amount, a projected $3000 will fund something called the Honor Book. Remember this from the McNamara & Wolfe campaign? I am told that this large, leather-bound, gold-plated book would be signed by incoming freshmen to "increase awareness" of the code. Why do we need this? The Honor Code is printed on every test and in every handbook, recited in every ear of every student by every professor, yet Senate wants to waste $3000 on a fancy book. Perhaps I expect too much from what now appears to be an organization like any other, one with as little say in the workings of Wartburg College as any other. Perhaps my idealistic notion of representative government does not apply to this, a government only in name. Perhaps I should take my concerns directly to the administration, though they'd probably refer me to Senate. Does Wartburg care for anything other than my money? After all my payments to the business that is Wartburg College, I think I am entitled to the attentive ear of someone, even if the voice of the Student Body refuses-or is not allowed-to listen and act. |
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| Do you feel Senate did a good job this year?
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