Baby steps for USG
(In response to Athena Salman’s Sept. 9 column, “USG policy goals lackluster.”)
I have to agree on a couple points:
1. The Undergraduate Student Government, as with any and every other governmental organization, should definitely be held accountable and kept under close watch, by virtue of the power they hold.
2. The registration reform is a small victory, and there are bigger fish to fry. You listed a number of great issues for USG to tackle — any USG readers should take note of these items.
However, I feel that a congratulations is still very much in order, and we should be supporting our student government when they do something right. It seems, so far, that this administration is generally headed in the right direction and reinforcement will really go a long way, especially if we want to continue to see successes like these as USG tackles bigger projects like registering student voters. Now, this does only tackle small issues, as you say. There are most definitely bigger issues. But, if the practice of introducing reformative policy that improves the student experience becomes the norm of this administration and it complements the address of more important issues, then I say bring it on!
I have to agree with you that the policy goals you listed were lackluster. The issue I see with them as they are written here is they are not specific or measurable. If this is the case, it sounds like USG could benefit from a Goal Setting Workshop — ASA and Collegetown do that.
As always, this is beautifully written and bleeds passion. Props!
Steve Russell
Reader
