The Collegian

Issue date: 5/12/06 Section: Opinion

uncle sam

If you were caught off guard to hear that the elections for student government are next week (or if you just don't care), you're not alone.

The hasty organization of the student elections this semester seems like the swan song of a student government that has been dysfunctional all semester. Add this to the news of President Pierre Tapia's resignation, and this current student government looks as disordered in its final days as it has all year.

It's true that it might have been the ASBG's fault that the majority of Delta's student population was not aware of the time, place, and process of the upcoming elections. But it is solely the responsibility of every student to vote on the election days, and to bring a real change to this student stagnant, student government.

In a year colored by the issue of the ICC controversy, this government had an opportunity to flex the muscle of student power and set real precedents in how student affairs can be solved by students. It's a simple idea, but for some at the proceedings and appeal process of the ICC (InnerClub Council) issue, that idea seemed lost on many of the members of the student government.

"I think those whole proceedings were a farce," Motecuzoma Sanchez, a member of MEChA, and one of the most outspoken critics of the student government, told The Impact earlier this semester. "The ASBG failed to represent the students."

Sanchez echoes the sentiments of many people, both student and faculty alike, who took issue with fact that Tapia, Castro, and other members of the ASBG met with President Raul Rodriguez before the ICC appeal process to discuss the issue. To some, it looked like a clear-cut case of student government allowing the administration to step in where it didn't belong. Many critics noted the same words during the proceedings used by both student officers and Rodriquez. These words led to the case being decided by, in Tapia's words, "a facilities request issue," which effectively took away the ability of the student government to make a decision in the matter. Rodriguez has maintained from the beginning that the ICC lacked the power and authority to make a ruling. Tapia and the majority of the student government never seemed to consider another option in the case.

"President Rodriguez's actions in all this has been appalling," former MEChA advisor, Lilian Rich, told The Impact. She is not the only critic of the way the issue was handled. Indeed, whether or not one tends to agree with the clubs Caudillos, PUENTE and LULAC or MEChA's point of view on the matter, it should be a given that students want and deserve their government to be a vehicle for the students' voices to be heard.

The disorganization of these elections, the rushed and unexplained resignation of our student president should be a sign to the Delta community that it is time to seek a better government for next year.

A student voter should be aware next week which of the candidates agreed with Tapia and which dissented in the final ICC decision. Put bitter feelings about so-called "rival clubs" aside and consider that without a student government that properly represents the will of the students, and exists to serve and enrich students, we have no voice, and no control over what happens to us as a community on this campus. Ask the candidates who they will be loyal to: the student community as a whole, or a group that has its own agenda. Then, most importantly, go to school next week and vote.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools