I would like to thank SG. I know they are under a lot of criticism and speculation at the moment (even from me), but I would like to commend them on some level.
As we all know, the format of Student Government has gone under drastic revision.
Whereas last year students all met up in social committee meetings and then later for a general assembly meeting every week, now there are only committee meetings.
This was a point of a lot of discussion and ridicule during the first couple of meetings as not everyone was clear on the fact that there was going to be no interaction via SG between different interest groups.
Talking with those within my own committee was similar to talking to a friend who always agrees with you; after five minutes, you’re bored.
Apparently, this was the concern of many committees and others were demanding the return of the general assembly. Some committee’s even passed resolutions for it.
I was thrown and alienated by the new process and started asking some questions and after that, many others started pouring in with their concerns about this brand new format.
What I found so impressive during this week’s meeting was that not only did SG members (President, Vice President and others) try and answer the sea of questions, but they also did something about it.
Because members said they didn’t understand, they explained to their best ability.
Because many were also claiming that they felt alienated as to what was going on in Senate and Executive Board meetings, the Vice President and President came down and actually sat in on committee meetings and discussed one on one some of the issues that needed to be addressed.
I commend them on their actions in this sense. It was a good first step toward clearing up this complicated issue.
Unfortunately when it comes to political matters, I automatically start assuming the worst.
I had somehow imagined some type of evil take over by the senate/finance committee, who not many people seemed to know anything about and a lot of shadiness on the behalf of some other entities of SG.
Well, perhaps not that far but the lack of communication was throwing people off to say the least.
What I found was instead of unmasking some maniacal plan to overtake Plant Hall and make us all serve the will of SG, the executive members were very hands on about listening to criticism and working with everyone to solve the problems at hand.
Decisions were made to bring back the general assembly and more information was revealed about the format of finances and how the senate works.
I was so happy that the people in SG were so instrumental this week in trying to clear up some of the murkier areas of this new system.
And although there is much work to be done, my outlook is positive if SG continues to entertain new ideas and criticism with the “Can do” attitude that they have in the past week.
Nicole Robinson can be reached at nrobinson@ut.edu.