Tripartisan efforts

Representing the student body is the pressing issue before the newly elected student government officials. I am sincerely hoping that the Kirkwood ticket will do a better job than the current student government, which had considerable difficulties with representation this year. With student government continually failing to step up and assert itself, is it any wonder that students receive less consideration in the administrative decision making? Student government is now at a point where its legitimacy is questioned. \nThis is a shame because I believe student government should play an essential and irreplaceable role in University administration. After all, the whole purpose of the University is to serve the students. Therefore, student opinions, ideas and thoughts matter and must be taken into account whenever decisions are made that affect students.\nThe challenge before the new student government is how to effectively seek out and represent the student opinion. The first step is recruiting qualified and interested students for staff positions; those who care about advancing student interest will show up to meetings and do the work. \nThe buddies who helped support the winning ticket might not fit these crucial requirements. Running a student government is not nearly as much fun as running an election campaign. The initial supporters might discover that they’re not enticed by the heavy work load that comes with a government office and might even drop out. This problem has plagued the current administration, and Kirkwood must do its darnedest to avoid it.\nHow do you do that, and where do you find qualified and motivated people? My suggestion is to put aside partisan affiliations and reach out to other tickets and actively involve them in student government. I assume the people behind the losing tickets ran for election because they care about student government. It would be a shame to let all that talent and dedication go to waste when it can be put to a good use. \nBy putting aside differences and pooling together ideas and efforts, much can be accomplished. Involving other tickets will bring in new perspectives that would make for a more dynamic administration. Surrounding yourself with yes-men will only lead to complacency. Rising above cronyism will demonstrate true leadership and commitment to fair representation. Besides, why would you want the losing tickets criticizing you all year and claiming that they could have done a better job? By letting them participate, you can avoid that.\nTo the losing tickets, I suggest that you don’t get too disappointed. True, you might not have the top executive positions, but that’s not why you ran for election. I hope you ran because you want to make the University better for students. Well, guess what? You can still do that. If Kirkwood doesn’t extend an invitation for you to participate in the government, which I hope it will, then you must be persistent and lobby the party for involvement. You must make your presence known. You must negotiate an agreement in which you can actively participate in the government.\nI hope that in the end, all tickets can cooperate. Only combined and united efforts will be able to resurrect student government from its shambles to a functioning, respected body of significance.