el Don NewsASG leaders mobilize to define their adviser’s role after a resolution limiting his power was buried for more than four years.
The recent political maneuver by the Associated Student Government in redefining the adviser’s role is just one step towards restructuring the hierarchy within student government.
A resolution outlining the adviser’s role in 2009 was buried until last February. After months of being stonewalled, ASG President Edna Tobias received the resolution not from the adviser but from a former ASG president.
Agendas and minutes recording public meetings in a college should be accessible to everyone.
They are public documents and provide information to the community about campus policies.
The student leaders’ inability to access these documents shows the need for better procedures to retain and retrieve such materials. It also shows a need for greater respect of student rights. Our rights should not be taken for granted. Moreover, this incident should empower student leaders to make decisions that benefit the entire student body.
Placing the resolution on the ballot this March will allow students to decide whether the power should be placed in the hands of elected officers, or in their adviser’s.
A student government must be run by duly elected student leaders, not by a paid staff member.
