by Jesse Murray
Staff Writer
What is the first thing that comes to mind when one hears the letters S-G-A? What are the first questions asked when the topic of student senate is brought up in cafeteria conversation? It probably goes something like this: “What do they do, and how much power to they have?”
Every year, each class elects a male and female representative to act as its voice to the faculty and administration. From small issues, such as body piercings, to larger ones, such as the abolition of weekend curfew, Bryan College senators speak for the student body.
So, how much muscle does the senate actually have? If you remember last semester, there was much contention over the church attendance policy. Some students raised the question: is it right and effective to force people to attend church? Whether they were truly convicted or simply too lazy to wake up on Sunday mornings is irrelevant. They had an opinion, and they took it to senate. Acting as the student voice, senate took the complaints before the administration. The results were less than impressive.
Sophomore senator Jonathan Warner said that they presented the situation to the administration and were told that the issue was not worth pursuing because nothing would change.
“In the end, no matter how much we pushed it, it would not change… so that’s an example of the limit of our power,” said Warner.
While senate does decide what is presented before the administration, Warner maintains that, “Sometimes change is a long process that involves softening up the administration to the issues.”
When asked his opinion, junior Shane Vicry said, “The problem is that the issues being pushed are the ones considered immediately winnable as opposed to those more widely desired by students.”
At the end of the day, senate does have a mouth to speak, but its voice is often constrained to whispers. So don’t expect your senate to eliminate the church attendance policy or the Mercer hat rule any time soon. These things take time, and ultimately, the fate of student opinion rests solely on the good graces of the administration.