Recently, a member of the Student Government Association published a scathing op-ed in the DePaulia responding to concerns that several students have voiced regarding how receptive SGA is to our needs.
Rather than assuaging the concern that SGA is blind to student needs, SGA Liaison from the Residence Hall Council Jarrett Long said he was, “very concerned that a wild distortion like this was actually published in the DePaulia.”
He went on to ask the DePaulia staff, “Why would you write and publish an uninformed article bashing your own student government, when you could report on the significant progress that they have made … to benefit their fellow students?”
Student Government Association President Casey Clemmons gave his stamp of approval to this arrogant and abrasive response, declaring it in a student government tweet, “an appropriate and necessary response.”
We don’t feel this aggressive response is conducive to listening to the valid concerns of students and reforming SGA so that it better represents the student body. The Student Government Association has sidelined and marginalized other groups that actually do the bulk of the work in creating a cohesive campus climate.
For example, in an email sent Feb. 17, the DePaul University Presidents’ office sent out an email thanking “the leadership of the Student Government Association” for the success of Blue Demon Week and giving SGA the bulk of the credit, when in reality it was the DePaul Activities Board that was mainly responsible for the success of the week.
After speaking with sources on the DAB executive board, we were told that all of the logistics and event planning, including the dance, the blue demon bash, trivia night and dodge ball tournament, were planned exclusively by the DePaul Activities Board Blue Demon Week coordinator. All SGA did to help with Blue Demon Week was “marketing and promotion,” without any sort of substantial planning.
However, DePaul SGA broke with tradition and decency, claiming the lion’s share of the credit. As student leaders, we would hate to be in the position of DAB where our contributions were belittled and squandered by the leadership of Student Government Association just so they could pad their r’ÛΩsum’ÛΩs.
There are rumors circulating of kickbacks for the DePaul SGA elite, while the peons in the student body are left with nothing but scraps. More seriously, there are allegations that perks for the leadership, such as tickets to the dance being distributed only to SGA members, were bought and paid for with our tuition dollars.
There are additional allegations of a more serious nature that need to be addressed, and that we plan on bringing forth at an appropriate time. Rather than acting as a conduit to bring issues that matter to the student body to the attention of the DePaul administration, we feel the leadership of Student Government, specifically President Clemmons, have been conspirators in DePaul’s efforts to marginalize different voices.
For example, the Student Government Association has not reached out and promoted students’ political groups in promoting Vincentian values. The Democrats have tirelessly attempted to reach out to SGA and build bridges with the leadership, only to be scorned at every turn.
The Republicans, having heard of the SGA president’s prior experience working for the mayor and president, didn’t even bother. Such another example of leadership ineptitude was during the recent polar vortex in late January. A large group of DePaul students understandably voiced their concerns about having to commute to school and attend classes during sub- zero temperatures.
Instead of acting in the best interests of the University, SGA failed to effectively voice students’ concerns to the administration and as a result thousands of commuter and on-campus students had to brave extremely dangerous weather conditions. This more than proves that SGA’s leadership, headed by President Clemmons, is unprepared to stand in solidarity with the student body during times of emergency.
A serious issue with the DePaul SGA is the marginalization of political voices on campus and the acquiescence of SGA’s silent leadership. The DePaul SGA has refused to bring differing voices to the forefront and respect the diversity of opinion that DePaul University is committed to.
Things are different when you represent major political parties though. For the only DePaul College Republican and DePaul College Democrat unified event, the debate, only a single tweet was published by SGA on the day of. Allegedly, there was to be a promotion of the event. While recognition is always appreciated, recognition and promotion are two very different promises.
Throughout this year, political activism has been stifled and ignored, leaving DePaul students out of a voice. Additionally, according to the Trojan Sexual Health Report Card, DePaul is still ranked close to last in terms of contraception and STI testing on college campuses across the United States.
This is no time for students to have an SGA leadership that promotes a false calm and consensus only found in Stepford, Connecticut. If this is the best that the SGA leadership has to offer, then we should strongly consider serious reforms to the SGA leadership.
The Student Government Association is the servant of the student body, not the master. Everyone studying at DePaul should reflect on whether this is an entity in which they are comfortable being represented by.
