Opinion

GSS: Here to serve

Campus must speak up about important issues

By William Pomerleau

Posted on Sept. 21, 2006, at 12:00 a.m.

When I sponsored the resolution to make the Student Senate adhere to its financial policies, I had the students in mind. When the Senate passed it, they also had the students in mind. What’s important to take from this is that neither I, nor the Senate, would’ve ever known about the students’ concern had we not heard students’ voices in the Maine Campus and other venues.

Senate and Student Government as a whole is more or less like a worker’s union. You essentially pay dues in the form of a student activity fee, we help to fund your activities, and we try to represent you legitimately when there’s a problem. In my two years as a senator, I have received maybe one e-mail from a student with a concern. Also in that time, maybe only two or three issues have actually bothered students enough to come to the Senate to notify us. Surely I’m not naive enough to believe that because of this, students have no problems. Not by a long shot.

Most members of Student Government know that everyone has issues with dining, everyone has issues with the high costs of textbooks, and everyone wants to assault the man putting yet another parking ticket on your car; but we need more than that.

If you have specific issues that bother you, the last thing you should do is stay silent. The easiest way to have something done is through one of three avenues: talk to your senator who can address the issue personally; come to the Senate meetings at 6 p.m. on Tuesdays at the Multi-purpose Room and address your concerns publicly; or talk to the President of Student Government, who can bring that problem to the Senate or address it himself. If you’re too shy, an e-mail would work, or even writing an editorial in The Maine Campus would be fine.

If you, the students, don’t direct what you want the senate to discuss, then the senate becomes exactly what people had been claiming it to be in the past – a do-nothing body. Contrary to the belief of certain individuals, Student Government has more influence than you think. And when it comes to off-campus, every elected official opens their ears to an organization representing nearly 10,000 registered voters. So please, tell us your thoughts, ideas, criticisms, notions, grievances and complaints. It is the only way to have your problems addressed – hence the idea of democracy.

William Pomerleau is a sentator for the College of Education and Human Development

President Pro Tempore, UMaine General Student Senate

Senator from the College of Education and Human Development

University of Maine Representative–UMaine System-Wide Student Government

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 21st, 2006, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.