I don’t like the SGA.
You must have surmised that from reading my tirades from last year around election time. I guess you read about how I find them to be a useless and powerless organization, a waste of university funding, and a blight on the face of American democracy. You might even remember me saying that we ought to elect a certain quarterback as SGA President instead of participating en masse in the Panhellenic Pride Parade that is the annual duel between two atrociously-named and Greek-stocked parties.
Want to hear something you didn’t already know? The university administration finds the SGA and the elections that stock it just as laughable and futile as I do. I’ve got evidence.
Exhibit A: The administration has made these elections an afterthought.
At the beginning of every election cycle, the SGA Election Commission and Dean of Students office publish an election rules and procedures packet. This was the document that was discussed in a front-page article that ran in The Daily Beacon last week. Among other things, it defines when they can begin campaigning, what they can do in their campaign efforts, and how materials can be distributed. While that may seem fair enough, the fact of the matter is that even a cursory glance through the document’s 43 pages reveals several limitations on free speech.
Turns out these campaigns are not allowed to actually campaign. Sure, they can pitch their customary tents and hand out goodies in exchange for empty promises and speak to individual on-campus organizations, but they cannot stage rallies or canvas for votes. They are barred from posting flyers around campus (a limitation that has been “justified” by the inability to ensure that the flyers will be picked up) and have been ordered to refrain from “chalking” on university sidewalks. These latter two restrictions stand, of course, in stark contrast to the fact that we are all inundated daily with advertisements for commercial entities, concerts, UT-related events and apartment complexes across campus in both flyer AND chalk form. If the Woodlands or College Republicans can do it, why can’t these supposedly “vital” campaigns?
More disconcerting than that, they are actually prohibited from utilizing all forms of social media until a specific date. They cannot create organized groups or spread the word about their stances on issues until a certain date. That’s right: UT has told these students what they can and cannot say in an unaffiliated public forum and when they can say it.
How are these elections supposed to be representative if campaigns cannot spread their message? It’s no wonder only 9.3 percent voted last year. The campaigns are given so little time to actually get the word out that they might as well just post pictures of themselves on the ballots and tell everyone to vote for the “pretty one” (… if they don’t already).
Exhibit B: When elected SGA officers and members actually get into office, they’re crippled.
The SGA has many meetings throughout the school year where they discuss and vote upon various pieces of legislation that are written by members of the body. The administration, however, has limited what they can actually do. They’ve been relegated to determining the positioning of park benches instead of weighing in on actual problems facing UT students. Other pieces of legislation either get vetoed by the SGA President because he/she is assured they will never be imposed or will be tossed in the garbage once they get to the desk of Chancellor Jimmy Cheek, a man who is supposedly all about “Big Ideas.”
I’m told administrators don’t often attend SGA meetings.
When the administration actually does want student input, they shun the SGA in preference of specially created focus groups that they might speak to once or twice about a given topic.
How are students supposed to view these elections as anything other than a farce if the Big Orange Screw will not actually allow them to step up to the plate and participate? SGA members should be a part of and have a voice in every task force and committee that makes decisions that affect students.
This probably won’t be the last time I opine on this topic, but know this: the biggest reason SGA and its elections are farcical is because the administration makes them that way.
— Derek Mullins is a senior in political science. He can be reached at dmullin5@utk.edu.
