Letter to the Editor: SGA

3/20/08

Dear Editor of the Critic,

I am writing this letter in response to three articles in one of your previous newspapers. The first article was “House rep submits plan to fix budget crunch” by Catherine Story, another is “LSC students: this is all you fault” by Keith Whitcomb Jr., and lastly the article entitled “The flapping jaw student opinion of SGA” by Matt Vercillo. It seems that the general population of Lyndon State College is fairly misinformed about a lot of the operations and procedures of organizations that affect them as a whole.

First, I would like to make a small comment on the first article I mentioned. As some of you might have read, there was a suggestion from one of the government representatives in which she suggested that the Campus Activities Board (CAB) should get their budget cut down because she claimed they were asking for way more money than they actually needed. Well, as a CAB member myself, I can tell you that the bus trips are very successful and students enjoy them and it should be a new Lyndon tradition. Most students on campus are requesting to have something to do off-campus all the time. Though what most people don’t realize is that CAB has never budgeted in a bus trip for each weekend. So I am assuming that part of the $30,000 they requested was to help pay for these trips. Also, in addition to these bus trips, CAB also supplies the campus with activities between the days of Wednesday and Sunday. For example, the movies series on-campus are required to be rented through Swank Motion Pictures which requires CAB to pay for a license to show the movies twice a week which costs up to $15,000 a year. These can in themselves be an expensive adventure for the organization not to mention they also need to budget in the money for all the hypnotists and comedians, at $2,000 per event, that seem to turn out a fair amount of the community any time I go.

Second, the second article I mentioned written by Keith Whitcomb marvelously displayed exactly what myself, the former vice president of the Student Government Association (SGA), and the rest of student government have been trying to make happen for months now. I ran for the vice president position to promote and help the community at large to succeed, as well as to look out for the overall well being. Though it seems no one really realizes what we really did do. For example, I know in meetings with the general assembly of the SGA we discussed the smoking policy in detail for well over a year even before instating the policy. We also were making sure to try to have it succeed and benefit the student body. Yet, if students really have a question or want to change anything with anything on campus, smoking policy or anything else for that matter, really should bring it to the people sitting in the SGA office routinely. That is why they are there, to hear the student voices and to bring up your concerns in the next scheduled meeting. The office is located on the left as you walk into the student center from the campus ATM machine.

Last, but certainly not least, the article written by Matt Vercillo appalled me being the former vice president of the student body. I was shocked and disgusted to hear that a majority of the student body does not even know what the SGA is, not to even mention that they have no idea what we do. Being a former member of SGA for the last three semesters I know how much control the group of people the general public of students elects has over major issues. The group as a whole has had major decisions just made in this semester alone. We decided to replace the television in the student center because we felt the old one was degrading fast. Though what people might not have know, and I didn’t until I was informed myself, is that the old television was also purchased by the SGA eight years ago. Another thing that is an even more major decision is the layout and general construction of the soon to be new addition to be adding in from of Vail, last I knew at least through a house representative who attends regular scheduled meetings. This building will house pre-existing departments that will be moving there most with faculty offices and classrooms. These majors include, but are not limited to: Meteorology, Business, Exercise Science and other general classrooms also are being added. It also is proposed to include a whole new space for all students to enjoy a wide variety of programs hosted by clubs and organizations. Though I am not fully informed on the project, I am told that students definitely have a voice in at least suggesting what this building should look like. We even have a student representative that sits on a committee which advises the administration and staff what the students would like to see in the building.

I would like to emphasize that this information was not kept secret or hidden in any sense of the word. The meetings of the SGA have always been open to the general public to attend on every other Wednesday at 8 PM currently hosted at the Rita Bole Community Room right across from Academic and Student Affairs. Also, the minutes and records of what goes on in each meeting of SGA and its attached committees are available for request by asking any general member of student government which includes but not limited to: Elected Representatives, Club Representatives, President, Vice President, Treasurer, Advisors, and the Secretary.

I guess what I am trying to say is, the operations and efforts of student government are largely based on what students suggests we need to do on-campus. So if the students want to know about a policy, or change it even, than SGA is there to give the people the information as well as work with and for them to see about changing or modifying policy. If students want to suggest activities to do on-campus they can bring it to the attention of the Campus Activities Office located only feet from the television in the student center. They even can attend the CAB meeting to help completely plan what activities on-campus to bring to entertain the student body more effectively.
Thank you for your time,

Micheal Hannan
Sophomore: Computer Information Systems / Bus