It’s a pretty common sentiment on campus: Associated Student Government is a useless organization with no real purpose or ability to affect any sort of positive change.
The Daily does not take this view. We have no doubt made some criticisms of the organization in the past. Just this year we’ve taken issue with the efficiency of Senate, the transparency of the election commission and the way ASG communicates to students.
One area where ASG is very effective, though, is in lobbying the administration. ASG President Claire Lew meets with Vice President for Student Affairs Bill Banis once a week. She meets with the Board of Trustees once a quarter. Though she has not finalized a schedule yet, she hopes to meet with University President Morton O. Schapiro at least once a month.
In an interview with The Daily, Schapiro said if he respected the student government president and they took the job seriously, he would listen to them and help them achieve their goals. From our perspective, there are few people who take their jobs more seriously than Lew and her Vice President Hiro Kawashima.
Clearly, the problem is not between the administration and ASG. The problem is between ASG and the general student body. The Daily places the blame on both sides.
ASG does do a lot to make themselves open to students. In an interview with The Daily, Lew said her e-mail address and phone number were published on the ASG website and that she has office hours where students can voice any concerns. It is up to students to use these contact options to let Lew know their thoughts on campus issues.
At the same time, though, we want ASG to do more. Being available to students to talk to is great. So are the many surveys that ASG and the Undergraduate Budget Priorities Committee send out. But for ASG to truly be an effective voice of Northwestern students, it has to reach out into the community. It has to do more to force students to give them ideas.
Lew mentioned a number of intriguing ideas in her interview with The Daily. She said next fall ASG would have firesides with students about specific topics and student life in general. This would be a great step, especially if the firesides were part of events like dorm munchies that students already attend.
There is a cycle of apathy about ASG on campus: Students think ASG is powerless, so they don’t give officials ideas. Thus, ASG does not know what students want. When students don’t see their desires being achieved, they become more apathetic.
This cycle can be broken. Through increased communications, students can find out the ways they can influence ASG policy. Lobbying will become more effective and more likely to achieve accurately reflect student wants.
In an interview with The Daily, Schapiro said this about ASG: “I don’t think students have any idea of the role their elected representatives play here in the allocation of resources at Northwestern, even at Williams or USC.”
The Daily agrees. Now we hope ASG does more to tell students about that role.
