In a piece for American Way of Life (AWOL), writer Ashley Dejean wrote about the lack of diversity in student government on campus. She very accurately noted that SG has become a “Boy’s Club” and that, “At the executive level, the gap is far from closed. For the past three years, the Student Government President has been a straight white male from the School of Public Affairs Leadership Program.” This seemed to be the largest area of concern in the article, and with the upcoming SG presidential election, this school now has the opportunity to respond to the concerns raised in Dejean’s article.
In response to the piece, the Undergraduate Senate pushed to make SG more inclusive. This initiative is headed by Senator Tim McBride, the co-chair for the Undergraduate Senate’s task force to increase diversity within the Student Government. In his own words, McBride told The Eagle that he believes, “The biggest thing is SG initiative for people to be more cognizant that they should be reaching out to people of varying backgrounds and perspectives … senators need to start recruiting from marginalized groups.”
McBride considered the lack of diversity in SG to be “something that was obvious,” and that “It was clear that this was something we should address.” In The Eagle, McBride notes that, “There is a perception out there that this is a predominately white, male group," said McBride. "It’s something that needs to be changed.? We need to make it clear, we need to make it extra clear, that that’s not the case."
So, what is the solution the co-chair of the Diversity Task Force has purposed to bridge the diversity gap, for making it “extra clear” that it is “not the case” that white males dominate Student Government? It is for him, a white male, to run for president of Student Government. But fear not students, for this diversity gap is only a “matter of perception” to quote McBride from Dejean’s article.
The very clear problem that McBride describes seems not to be important enough for him to take his own sage advice and encourage say females, African Americans or gays to run for office. Even though McBride said he would encourage such people to run, people like his opponents in the SG presidential race, we see that he really isn’t living up to his own proclaimed standards.
One would hate to think that McBride, or any candidate, would place personal accomplishment over communal progress here at AU; such thoughts are things only professional politicians have. Unfortunately though, it is clear that McBride’s opinion of inclusion is certainly not the one Senator McBride advocated for. Logically we can conclude that it seems, once again, that some people will abandon principle in pursuit of power just to add another check to their resume.
For McBride it seems that the diversity gap in SG is only “something that was obvious” and “something that needs to be changed,” so long as it doesn’t interfere with him being elected SG President. Is his candidacy really about promoting progress for our school or his own reputation?
Dejean’s issued a warning clear as day in her piece: “Another student fitting this description [white male] intends to run in the upcoming presidential election.” It is up to us to individually figure out who she was referring to. But it is our responsibility as a community to take to heart this explicit warning and reflect this advice in how we vote on March 22 and 23. Dejean brought a very clear problem to light and what better stance for such an inclusive, accepting, and political active school to make than to elect an “outsider” as our President.
Michael Morgante is a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs.
