Well the last time in Senate the major deal was the Impeachment hearings that were so well publicized in The Breeze. So the rules are pretty set, and if you have more then 3 absences then you can be called for a hearing to occur, to which after everyone votes for that to happen, the CIA of the Senate conducts an investigation and proceeds with a hearing after 2 weeks. The voting occurred in a way that it was deemed that the absence of Adam Hall shouldn't lead to him being impeached because he was an integral part of his committee and to the organization as a whole.
In the past there have been similar hearings, and normally the senators don't want to go through the hassle of doing the bureaucratic process so they in a sense take a smaller position as a Representative, which essentially is an individual that doesn't vote but is present at the meetings and only has to really go to a minimum of 2 meetings a semester. Some see this as a demotion others see it as a different position, but it indeed offers less responsibility and it can become pretty meaningless if the person doesn't put forth the effort that is required from a regular senator.
The organization started the year with a little over 100 members, and through all the people dropping, resigning, being impeached, and dropping down to a senator, we have almost 66 members now. The other day we had a Senate Reform bill that structured the number of senators for each sect of constituency on campus, and I believe it was effective in creating good competition for certain seats and making the organization more efficient.
I think there are a lot of senators that do the job for a variety of reasons, maybe to publicize for themselves, boost a resume, help the student body, fix a problem they see, or because they just want to feel connected to a tight group of people. Whatever the reason, there are too many senators that don't take their positions seriously, and you aren't getting a range of people being represented in the SGA. So the reform bill helps maintain the passion of the strongest members and allows for the more qualified people to take the job. This is good, however it still will be a problem for certain people that are intimidated by the organization and its ego. But this isn't the SGA's fault, or is it ?
P.S. Marley Green is the new S.R.B.O.V for JMU 08-09'. I know he has the passion of awareness and open mindedness of character to truly represent JMU from all its aspects, so I urge you all to get to know him and his exceptional and genuine quality.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Campaign Week ?
Well as one section of our campaign is complete, we are now entering the second section of campaigning regarding class officers, senate elections, and this special case RUN-OFF for the S.R.B.O.V. position. The election is tomorrow Thursday April 10th from 7am-7pm on the sga website : http://sga.jmu.edu
So the funny thing about student government elections is that there is normally a competition between people already within the system, vying for the head positions of President, VPSA (vice president of student affairs), and VPAA (vice president of academic affairs). The general rule to winning elections with our lack of care for voting and representation creates a scenario where if you win the senate, then you win the election. This however is becoming less and less of a rule of thumb since it seems that the individuals who succeed in elections are merely those individuals that are stupendous net workers and can get people to do things for them. This comes from activities on campus, social networks, organizations, image, and drive. I think that anyone in an Greek organization, saferides, ambassadors, anyone who was a frog or OPA, or anyone involved with other such organizations have an easy time staying connected, since there are amazing lines of communication within these organizations. It is also interesting that these organizations do a lot for students, and so there are many ways to reach out and get your name out there.
I think it wouldn't be hard to create a sketch of the hierarchy of this campus, and there are a lot of overlapping faces and organizations that are apparent in SGA, in Ambassadors, and these types of orgs. The key to being a leader or public figure lies in the image that you create for yourself, and the very first characteristics that you TRY to get people to see would be ones of leadership, responsibility, and a genuine compassion for some facet of life. That equation equals success, and so we make ourselves follow these steps and become something we are not sometimes. Do all these people that are here for the students really care for everyone ? Do we really do justice to the term constituency ?
There are power brokers on campus that have sucked influence into the hands of a few, and this is something that unfortunately makes for a dismal future. We need diversity in our candidates running for positions, we need competition so that we chose the best candidate, we need different kinds of people from different aspects of the campus in our senate, and seldom do we accomplish this since we have given in to the big organizations to foster our paths for social success through leadership roles. We give up so much of who we are to appeal to everyone so we can be liked, and at the end of the day we get the position we want, we fill in the resume we dream of, we create the connections needed to get our pictures on the Madison Magazine, and we are active enough a name drop in the The Breeze publication.
We prepare everything of who we are to campaign for a week for a position, and at the end of that week or two of elections, you go back to being in your niche and you aren't out there talking to students all over campus. Once the votes are tallied, your life lies in the hands of the numbers. If you win then you get the job and you are no where to be found; If you loose, you are no where to be found. So the next time you see someone out on campus with their pretty clothes to match their pretty face, remember to take a good look because you might not see them again for a while...
Our two school motto's are "Be the Change" and " All together one" is it me or isn't that just ridiculous?!?!?!?!?
So the funny thing about student government elections is that there is normally a competition between people already within the system, vying for the head positions of President, VPSA (vice president of student affairs), and VPAA (vice president of academic affairs). The general rule to winning elections with our lack of care for voting and representation creates a scenario where if you win the senate, then you win the election. This however is becoming less and less of a rule of thumb since it seems that the individuals who succeed in elections are merely those individuals that are stupendous net workers and can get people to do things for them. This comes from activities on campus, social networks, organizations, image, and drive. I think that anyone in an Greek organization, saferides, ambassadors, anyone who was a frog or OPA, or anyone involved with other such organizations have an easy time staying connected, since there are amazing lines of communication within these organizations. It is also interesting that these organizations do a lot for students, and so there are many ways to reach out and get your name out there.
I think it wouldn't be hard to create a sketch of the hierarchy of this campus, and there are a lot of overlapping faces and organizations that are apparent in SGA, in Ambassadors, and these types of orgs. The key to being a leader or public figure lies in the image that you create for yourself, and the very first characteristics that you TRY to get people to see would be ones of leadership, responsibility, and a genuine compassion for some facet of life. That equation equals success, and so we make ourselves follow these steps and become something we are not sometimes. Do all these people that are here for the students really care for everyone ? Do we really do justice to the term constituency ?
There are power brokers on campus that have sucked influence into the hands of a few, and this is something that unfortunately makes for a dismal future. We need diversity in our candidates running for positions, we need competition so that we chose the best candidate, we need different kinds of people from different aspects of the campus in our senate, and seldom do we accomplish this since we have given in to the big organizations to foster our paths for social success through leadership roles. We give up so much of who we are to appeal to everyone so we can be liked, and at the end of the day we get the position we want, we fill in the resume we dream of, we create the connections needed to get our pictures on the Madison Magazine, and we are active enough a name drop in the The Breeze publication.
We prepare everything of who we are to campaign for a week for a position, and at the end of that week or two of elections, you go back to being in your niche and you aren't out there talking to students all over campus. Once the votes are tallied, your life lies in the hands of the numbers. If you win then you get the job and you are no where to be found; If you loose, you are no where to be found. So the next time you see someone out on campus with their pretty clothes to match their pretty face, remember to take a good look because you might not see them again for a while...
Our two school motto's are "Be the Change" and " All together one" is it me or isn't that just ridiculous?!?!?!?!?
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Elections
Well this past week was the first week of elections. Here are the student representatives for next year :
Pres : Larson Thune
VPAA: Dan Stana
VPSA: Candace Avalos
Treasurer: Tara Rife
And the SRBOV position was a run-off between Marley Green and Fred Rose. Be sure to vote this Thursday !
So as the most important week of elections has mostly come to an end, I assume everyone thinks that each of the candidates will dance away with a victory and score one for their resume. But aside from the many facebook friends they will surely make, the many faces they will officially meet from the administration, and the pretty little SGA business cards that will have their names on it, they will need to remember the students ( NOT ONLY THE ONES THAT VOTED FOR THEM ). I challenge everyone to hold their student representatives accountable for their actions, and to use their position for the betterment of everyone on the campus.
I can explain to you the complacency that runs wild throughout our campus, and it makes no sense when we have such low turnout. The reason is communication, because we have to be connected to stay together. Use our differences to know that we can be strong as a united student body, but that would require some shaking up, because life is made to have the strong and the weak, the oppressor and the oppressed.
We have on average 12-14% voter turnout. The last election was filled with drama, and with 2 candidates there was about 25% turnout. That special election was truly special because it had lots of coverage, good and bad, and it caused a lot of students to think about their student government and dig them out of the hole that most people put them in. There was a large controversy that shed light on the power brokers of our campus, and the interesting inner workings of the influential organizations on campus, so of course some people payed attention. The one before that only had 12% turn out, and it was very much uncontested from many aspects, with there being a semi-contest election for Student Body President with an incumbent going against a write-in candidate, along with one legit race for the S.R.B.O.V. osition where the incumbent Stacey Fuller won.
Our current election had 26% voter turn out, which is the largest its been in a while, but this is for a general election, with a multitude of candidates, with 2 very popular presidential candidates, and 4 S.R.B.O.V position, of which there were a multitude of special interests represented ! We need to have voter turn out stay at the level it is, so as we get bigger and we approach expansion, we need to make sure that we reach out to the best of our abilities.
Elections have traditionally been popularity contests, and I hope that as the days go on we get the ability to have a good understanding of the character and qualifications of someone wanting to represent us ( EVERYONE OF US AND NOT JUST ONE CLIQUE )
For this election, I would love to give you my my insight on the candidates, I will keep my opinion away from the characters running for the particular positions because I wouldn't want to use a place such as this to expose or bolster any candidate in any means or form.
Next week along with discussing SGA bills, I will take some time to talk about the process of campaigning and getting to know the student body from a representational aspect. So stay tuned. ..
Pres : Larson Thune
VPAA: Dan Stana
VPSA: Candace Avalos
Treasurer: Tara Rife
And the SRBOV position was a run-off between Marley Green and Fred Rose. Be sure to vote this Thursday !
So as the most important week of elections has mostly come to an end, I assume everyone thinks that each of the candidates will dance away with a victory and score one for their resume. But aside from the many facebook friends they will surely make, the many faces they will officially meet from the administration, and the pretty little SGA business cards that will have their names on it, they will need to remember the students ( NOT ONLY THE ONES THAT VOTED FOR THEM ). I challenge everyone to hold their student representatives accountable for their actions, and to use their position for the betterment of everyone on the campus.
I can explain to you the complacency that runs wild throughout our campus, and it makes no sense when we have such low turnout. The reason is communication, because we have to be connected to stay together. Use our differences to know that we can be strong as a united student body, but that would require some shaking up, because life is made to have the strong and the weak, the oppressor and the oppressed.
We have on average 12-14% voter turnout. The last election was filled with drama, and with 2 candidates there was about 25% turnout. That special election was truly special because it had lots of coverage, good and bad, and it caused a lot of students to think about their student government and dig them out of the hole that most people put them in. There was a large controversy that shed light on the power brokers of our campus, and the interesting inner workings of the influential organizations on campus, so of course some people payed attention. The one before that only had 12% turn out, and it was very much uncontested from many aspects, with there being a semi-contest election for Student Body President with an incumbent going against a write-in candidate, along with one legit race for the S.R.B.O.V. osition where the incumbent Stacey Fuller won.
Our current election had 26% voter turn out, which is the largest its been in a while, but this is for a general election, with a multitude of candidates, with 2 very popular presidential candidates, and 4 S.R.B.O.V position, of which there were a multitude of special interests represented ! We need to have voter turn out stay at the level it is, so as we get bigger and we approach expansion, we need to make sure that we reach out to the best of our abilities.
Elections have traditionally been popularity contests, and I hope that as the days go on we get the ability to have a good understanding of the character and qualifications of someone wanting to represent us ( EVERYONE OF US AND NOT JUST ONE CLIQUE )
For this election, I would love to give you my my insight on the candidates, I will keep my opinion away from the characters running for the particular positions because I wouldn't want to use a place such as this to expose or bolster any candidate in any means or form.
Next week along with discussing SGA bills, I will take some time to talk about the process of campaigning and getting to know the student body from a representational aspect. So stay tuned. ..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)