About 26 students get together every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in a room specially made for them in the Lory Student Center to play “Senate.” It’s a game where “senators” sit and listen silently to guest speakers talk about something relevant to campus, or fellow students give extemporaneous speeches on why they deserve a job in student government. Aside from a biannual student fee debate, that’s about all the “Senate” does.
It’d be funny if it weren’t so disappointing.
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But this is what the Associated Students of CSU Senate –– your student government –– does on a weekly basis. They don’t audit the executive branch, which manages almost $2 million in student money, to detect wasteful spending. They don’t demand to know from ASCSU President Regina Martel whether she’s keeping the 16 promises she made to students during her campaign. They don’t evaluate the effectiveness of departments in student government.
But they do wonder why 30 percent of their seats are unfilled.
It’s no mystery. This particular branch of student government is largely irrelevant, spending most of its time on fairly meaningless procedural tasks that do little to improve the lives of students. They dress up, get together, follow Robert’s Rules of Parliamentary Procedure and listen to speeches, but they don’t represent students.
It’s time to grow up, Senate. Put a few more hours a week into performing meaningful tasks that add to the welfare of the average CSU student. Fight over issues that impact students. Protect your Senate meetings from agenda items that just waste everybody’s time.
Then maybe –– just maybe –– students will think you’re worthy of theirs.