There are times that - with all its flaws - Athens City Council comes out smelling like a rose. Council strives to corral Athenians, encouraging them to regularly take the podium and ultimately trying to reflect their views.
Two weeks ago, Student Senate announced it would conduct a survey to see what hours students prefer Baker University Center closes to accommodate the budget crunch. Vice President Emily Bacha aired the following:
We really are listening
and we don't want to make this decision on our own. We want student input.
A week later, however, only 19.5 percent of the sampled student body marked the senate's plan as their first choice. A slim minority ranked it their third choice of three. Senate then did a juke and a fake, passing a unanimous resolution supporting the lowest-rated option. The group's main defense rested on the assumption that many respondents shied away from senate's plan because it was not clearly explained. Slam dunk.
It is times such as these that senate really shows its interest-group colors. By domineering a big chunk of Baker's third floor, it's no wonder Student Senate would want to keep Baker open during the coveted Sunday meeting hours. Without explaining how their plan would affect student organizations, it's unconvincing. Such reflects the growing need for outside student involvement in our most influential student organization.
Student Senate's proposal not only failed to strike a majority of the three options, but also didn't even garner a respectable third of the slice - though Bacha did note several people wrote in suggestions to keep Baker open Sundays.
A line such as that is so bureaucratic it's almost Cutlerian. I believe it's called the sweep-it-under-the-rug technique.
Of the 1,032 people surveyed, 539 voted to close Baker Sunday, leaving 493 voting otherwise. Had every surveyed student written that they wanted Baker closed Sundays (only 406 even responded with suggestions), it still wouldn't have been the majority. So she speechifies to us the obvious: Some people who didn't vote to close Baker want it to stay open.
What's worse is one-plan Kent Smith, vice president for student affairs, and Sujit Chemburkar, executive director of Baker events, came forth and advocated closing Baker Sundays as one plan. Since when are administrators more in tune with students' wants than their student's own representatives?
Bacha's comment two weeks ago seemed to fall in line, almost verbatim, with the first half of the What We Do section posted on the senate's website:
Student Senate is here to serve you. We are the voice for all students on this campus and we want to make sure we are advocating for your needs and wants.
Did Bacha lie to her constituents? Truthfully, I didn't know, so I went to this week's senate meeting and asked during the student speakout segment. Walking in there, I tried to spot the T-shirt-wearing peanut gallery of disgruntled students in a sea of business casual. There was nobody to sit with, save some Posties on the Student Senate beat.
That too struck me as odd. Despite what certain Facebook groups probably would contend, senate is the students' most active group in city affairs (and we all know about that noisy racket they're making in City Hall we'd all like to get rid of).
Without pressure from students, senate runs the risk of looking more like a Real World: Walter 235 Wednesday nights than a Ways and Means Committee on C-Span.
The other half of senate's What We Do reads: Come let your voice be heard and let us know what we need to do to make your collegiate experience a great one!
Providing figures for how student groups would be affected by their proposal would make a big difference. To obtain more vitally needed student input, Student Senate needs to disseminate as much information to the student body as possible.
Adam Liebendorfer is a sophomore studying journalism and Spanish, and Friday columnist for The Post. If you like saying gubernatorial as much as he does, let him know at al211307@ohiou.edu. 4
Opinion
Adam Liebendorfer
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