Student Government recently debated a bill that would have limited the number of student senate candidates who campaigned together as “running mates” but failed to pass it.
Had the bill passed, we would have gladly supported it and its attempt to eliminate an all-too-familiar “popularity contest” of student elections. The problem we have with the bill: In our current system, this is the least of our legislature’s worries.
In the current election cycle, only three schools would have been affected by the bill. In fact, three schools don’t have anyone running.
Instead of debating bills that are now irrelevant, Student Government, in particular senate, should look more closely at why so many students don’t care about SG’s impact on campus, much less care enough to run.
It’s no mystery most of the student body has little idea as to what Student Government even does. Some see the organization as something overachieving students use to put on their applications for graduate school, and not something that has any impact on their lives. The sad thing, however, is that SG officers are capable of meaningful initiatives that greatly effect daily life here on campus — see Carolina Cab, Carolina Convoy or Safety Walk — and it’s important they make their successes, as well as their failures, transparent.
As we look toward the future, members of our Student Government need to view their jobs as fixing a broken and clearly misused senate system, rather than treat their position as just another line on their individual résumés. Only then can they hope to woo fellow Gamecocks back to the joys of Student Government.