Who gets priority?

STAFF EDITORIAL:

Good intentions can sometimes have the wrong results. College is the right place to correct them.

Outgoing ASG Vice President Steven Mendoza undoubtedly had good intentions by trying to get priority registration for student government leaders.

Good intentions, however, do not compensate for the negative political impression that it makes, especially in light of the recent budget cuts that have impacted class size.

He wanted to bypass a student vote on a perk that no one but ASG officers and representatives would benefit from. But it turns out that it will take an act of the California Legislature to add student government officers to a limited list that includes EOPS students and military veterans.

Mendoza says that adding a perk like registering early would be an incentive to attract more students to take on a leadership role by joining student government.

Many students, Mendoza says, do not take on leadership positions because meetings conflict with their class schedule.

One could only hope those who intend to lead the student body would have more altruistic reasons than mere convenience.

We’re happy Mendoza will not get what he wants.

First, our outgoing batch of student leaders will not want to leave a legacy of trying to pull such a selfish gambit.

With class sizes growing, the competition for seats has increased. Graduating students who badly need to get into a class could be forced out, fomenting bitterness against those who have the privilege of reserving seats in advance. The two groups who have been granted priority enrollment either deserve it, or need it.

But other student groups, including members of this newspaper and athletic teams, do not get such perks.

Nor should it matter to them. Like these groups, our leaders are performing an act of service to the college community.

These are the lessons we should all learn, regardless of where the future take us, if we wish to avoid the poisonous political environment that has divided the country between partisan ideologies where self-serving politics rule the day.

College is where we can make mistakes — as long as we learn from them.

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