For those in student government, the job is often more trouble than it is worth. Most students usually do not know who their student leaders are, and when asked are quite adamant they do not care.
That is somewhat troubling. It shows that students feel disenfranchised from their government and view it as something distinctly outside their university experience. The reasons behind this are as varied as the diverse campus population. Many are only here for classes squeezed between jobs they need to pay for all those credits. Some are older returning students who already feel alienated from their peers, others are here but would rather be partying, and still more are concerned only with academics. And underlying all of these is the sometime narrow-mindedness of those who actually work in the EMU.
Granted, those who are in the ASUO benefit from their past experience with student groups based in the EMU. But oftentimes when they work there and only relate to other people who are active there, they tend to forget to try to look at the campus from the perspective of folks who do not belong to that same culture. They forget that most students do not know where exactly the Ben Linder Room is in the EMU, what the “Green Tape Notebook” is, how much power the Programs Finance Committee holds and all the other little ins and outs of campus politics.
Therefore, the plans of current ASUO leaders Nilda Brooklyn and Joy Nair to improve the communication between students and their government are commendable. They and the staff need to work hard in coming weeks to lay down the foundation for a student government that does not alienate the rest of the campus because it is too wrapped up in a battle of student egos in the EMU.
Brooklyn and Nair say they will host a fall movie series and provide more resources on the ASUO Web site. Those are good first steps, but one is forced to ask how many students want to spend their free time watching movies in the EMU or even know what the address for the ASUO Web site is? Probably not that many.
The two and their staff need to come up with more engaging methods to make students interested in their government so that everyone on campus can understand the value of what the ASUO is trying to accomplish. For instance, how the ASUO is currently trying to keep student fees under the control of students and not the administration.
If more students know about the ASUO, they will feel more engaged by campus government and will also be more willing to come to the ASUO with their own concerns. And when that happens, our student government will be more effective in representing the concerns of everyone on campus and not just those inside the EMU.

Millrace project

of student talent
What exactly is the Millrace? It is a question asked by many freshmen and even upperclassmen as they ponder the murky and at times unpleasantly pungent creek that wanders through campus.
Some say it was once a waterway that carried cut logs from the Willamette River to mills, and others say it is just a rather foul, oversized storm drain. But despite its general appearance, it does have a place in the hearts of many on campus. Especially for those who live in the University Inn residence hall and have the pleasure of seeing what can be found floating in the waterway. This can be as varied as shopping carts, oversized nutria (river rats) or even the occasional fraternity brother.
To others on campus, however, the Millrace is the focus of a project to improve the waterway and also the water in it. More than a dozen landscape architecture students have lately been hard at work developing a manmade waterway that will help clean the murky Millrace by using natural grasses and a system of dams. This is just another example of how student talent can be used to improve the community, and this time it incidentally helps out a campus fixture.

Emerald going on short break
We at the Emerald would all enjoy a month-long “working vacation” at ranches in Texas, but our breaks are full of work and little vacationing. This issue is the last regular twice-weekly edition, but we will return Aug. 22 with a special edition focused on the law school. Then the Emerald will not publish again until we come out with the Back to the Books edition on Sept. 17. It is the largest paper of the year and full of news for returning students, new students and anyone interested in the campus and the greater Eugene area.