AU Student Government doesn’t represent me, and it’s not because the wrong person was voted into office. No person will ever run who can represent me.
At a university this small, I should be able to represent myself. Who better to tell the University about my experience as a student than me?
When I walk into an open forum and tell President Kerwin that I want change, he shouldn’t refer me to Student Government. He should say, “Oh yeah? Tell me about it.” Because this isn’t Kerwin’s university. And this isn’t Student Government’s university. AU belongs to the students, all of the students.
Over the past year, I’ve seen Student Government President Tim McBride truly strive to use his position to improve AU. The result? Not much has changed.
Last semester, Student Government passed a resolution advocating for lower parking rates for low-wage workers. Over a semester later, workers are still paying $1,476 dollars a year for the privilege to come to work.
In spring 2011, the administration decided to abandon its Violence Against Women Act application four days before it was due. At the time, they made the commitment to implement sexual assault education on AU’s dime. A year later, there is still no education offered to incoming freshman. However, Student Government’s Women’s Initiative has done nothing.
Taking financial aid into account, AU is the second most expensive college in the United States. Our tuition is going up drastically next year, while Kerwin sits comfortably in his free house. Yet, Student Government, no matter what the candidates’ campaigns say, won’t touch this issue.
And why haven’t things changed despite Tim McBride’s honest efforts to push for policies that reflect the needs of students?
It’s not because students don’t have the power to change AU. It’s because students put their problems in the hands of Student Government.
Student Government can’t make change because the group’s only real purpose is to appease students so they don’t notice that nobody actually cares what they think. Student Government doesn’t represent me because it doesn’t have the power to do so.
Power to change policy comes from students standing together to speak for themselves, not from an administration-sponsored Student Government. This is why, when I want to change something, I stand up and say so myself.
I didn’t arrive at AU planning to be an activist, but my experiences at this University convinced me that the only way to have my voice heard by the administration was to yell. AU isn’t going to listen to Student Government because, despite their rhetoric, they don’t actually care what students think.
Yet my voice should be heard. A University that listens to students isn’t just good for students; it’s good for the university.
How about asking customers what they think before spending millions of dollars on an advertising campaign? When students are successful and happy with the experience they had here, they might just donate some money. An advertising campaign isn’t going to change AU into a top tier school, but a satisfied student body will.
The very existence of Student Government undermines my voice.
After Student Government passes a resolution, it is that much easier for the University to pretend things are changing.
Often, many students care about an issue, but Student Government doesn’t want to tackle it. The administration then uses Student Government’s complacency to claim that students don’t care about the issue.
No student on campus is better equipped to represent my voice than me. But as long as Student Government is recognized as the official voice of the student body, the administration can keep undermining student welfare behind closed doors.
As an activist, I constantly hear things like, “They’ll never stop raising tuition” or “They’ll never stop harassing workers.”
And y’all are right; that is, if we keep thinking Student Government is our way of speaking out.
If we want Kerwin to hear our voices, then we have to demand that he listen. The moment students on this campus actually start speaking out is the moment that the administration will sit up and take notice.
Because that tuition check in your hand? It’s what pays the taxes on Kerwin’s free house.
Hanaleah Hoberman
CAS, Class of 2013
