In transition, IUSA nods to history

The IU Student Association Inauguration-Transition Farewell Ceremony Monday not only celebrated the incoming Btown administration and the outgoing Big Red administration, but also the organization’s 62-year history.

After last year’s controversial IU Student Association election, former IUSA President Luke Fields and the Big Red administration were praised at the inauguration ceremony
Monday for their efforts to restore IUSA’s name.

In last year’s election, a member of an opposing ticket broke into Field’s personal computer and forwarded Big Red campaign e-mails to members of the other ticket.

University Chancellor Kenneth Gros Louis was impressed with how Fields “went out of his way” to attend various student organization meetings and showed a strong interest in student concerns.

“Luke was close to the ideal president,” Gros Louis said.

Newly elected IUSA President Peter SerVaas said the Big Red administration legitimized IUSA.

“The key to realize what they accomplished was turning around the image of IUSA,” SerVaas said.

SerVaas said ever since Big Red came into office, top University officials think IUSA represents the student body well, which has restored their trust in IUSA.

“By the end of the year, you realize how much work they’ve done when administrators such as Provost Karen Hanson, one of the highest officials of Indiana University, when students came to her with issues she simply told them, ‘I’m not going to deal with you, you have to go through IUSA,’” SerVaas said. “She has that respect for student government that all issues must go through them as the proper avenue. That shows that they did their job as they should.”

Dean of Students Dick McKaig has witnessed 38 administrations go through IUSA and has seen it transform in its structure, legitimacy and pursuits.

When McKaig began his tenure as dean of students in 1971, the student association all depended on geographic representation, but now also encompasses academic representation.

IUSA did not always have a supreme court, but in more recent years added it to its government. McKaig said that as time went on, IUSA functioned more as a governmental model.

When asked what initiatives he hopes the Btown administration works toward, McKaig said, “Everything I’ve seen considered shows that they will continue to carry on the legacy. For me, quite frankly, after 38 years the ‘what’ that they work is not as important as how they work on it.”

McKaig also said IUSA will be instrumental in providing the new dean of students with the knowledge of what students want and need.

“I would hope and assume that it will be the case that IUSA will, in some respects, be in the position to set the base expectations of what the Dean can expect from student government because they will be the first student government the dean will be with on this campus,” McKaig said, “to the extent they set the bar high, which I hope they will.
It will be a great beginning.”

The atmosphere of the ceremony was relaxed. Members of the old and new student governments playfully and casually spoke with current IU administrators, including Gros Louis, McKaig and Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Student Activities Steve Veldkamp.

Some of the current IUSA executives had their parents come and share in the celebration.

IUSA Vice President Jack McCarthy’s dad, Bill McCarthy, said Jack showed leadership qualities at a young age and emerged as a leader in high school, taking on positions such as the president of his school’s National Honor Society chapter.

He said he was not surprised that Jack McCarthy would be heavily involved in extracurricular college activities, but was surprised he got involved in political office.

Current IUSA executives SerVaas and McCarthy showed their parents around the
IUSA office after the ceremony was over.

SerVaas showed his parents, both IU alumni, the presidential desk drawer, in which past IUSA presidents signed the inside of the drawer and taped their presidential business cards.

Their parents were intrigued by the IUSA office and its traditions.

Peter’s mother, Marcia SerVaas, said her son possessed leadership qualities in high school.

Peter SerVaas was student body president of his high school and “he really did change things in his school,” Marcia SerVaas said.

“In some respects,” Marcia SerVaas said, “leadership is a natural extension of who he is.”