Editorial Saving Student Governance

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Our Student Government Association (SGA) is in trouble. With only one competitive race in the upcoming senate elections, the campus-wide indifference towards this institution seems to have reached a new high. While we give the SGA leaders credit for the energy and enthusiasm spent to recruit at least one candidate for every position, we have to wonder what to expect from a body of student senators who had to be coaxed and begged to come out and represent their peers.

Students have lost faith in the SGA - both in its ability to represent student interests, and in its capacity to enact meaningful policy solutions. Because the SGA derives its ultimate power not from clauses in the College Handbook, but from the support and backing of the majority of the student body, this is a dangerous state of affairs for the organization to face.

It is easy to blame SGA leaders for failing to motivate and inspire students to turn out in mass for the candidates' meeting last Sunday. It is even easier to blame students for their apathy toward the SGA as a whole. But the more important task is for the current SGA leadership, and any student with an interest in the future of student government at Middlebury, to seriously consider what can be done to generate new enthusiasm. We have some suggestions:


Start small. Some of the smallest changes to College policies could generate tremendous support for the SGA. The perennial campaign issues of network printers in dorms, more working laundry machines and expanded wireless internet are popular in elections for a reason. While they may not be as sexy as some of the more extravagant proposals the Senate likes to debate, they are practical, realistic goals and would generate immediate appreciation for the work being done by student representatives.

Be creative. It takes a lot to permeate the busy lives of Middlebury students. All-campus e-mails simply do not sink in. If an important policy question is before the Senate, SGA representatives should be out in full force tabling, chalking, postering and handbilling. And publicity should not stop at saying what is at stake, but more importantly, why it is so important and how the SGA plans to address the issue. Why is the SafeRides program so important to student safety and how does the SGA really plan to create this new service? Why should we be bolstering school spirit and what do color wars have to do with it? Why is it critical for the betterment of the College that students run for senate positions and how do senators have an impact?

Follow through. Follow through with Old Chapel and students. When a policy passes the SGA, it is usually just the beginning of a long process. Faculty and staff, administrators and sometimes trustees must be persuaded that a policy is appropriate and necessary. Even when a recommendation does pass at all levels and go into effect, the SGA should continually re-evaluate what students think of the change and whether the intended goals were met. Are students still benefiting from the Napster initiative? What changes could be made to the news readership service to satisfy dining hall workers while preserving the popular newspaper program? How could the expansion - or even slight retiming - of the weekend shuttle service to Burlington offer students a whole new Saturday social option?


The incoming student representatives should feel driven by the challenges before them. But they should also recognize the limitations on what they can accomplish, and the high stakes for their institution if yet another year passes with few worthwhile accomplishments from student government.

The SGA is in trouble. But the exciting thought is that the 15 senators elected today will have the opportunity to save Middlebury's student government in a big way. We hope they will.