I’ve never seen or heard so much passion as I did in the ASUO Senate I sat in on the other day at the renovation meeting. Not only were the senators and Executive staff engaging in conversation, but a packed room of students came to show support and weigh their opinions. People were standing in the background, waving signs in support of ASUO President Ben Eckstein. Members of the EMU advisory board fought for their opinion to be heard over the loud roar of chatter as a controversial topic was introduced time and time again. It was one side against another — true politics in action.
People were getting their word in about the change that will be made to our school soon. I was so entertained by what was going on, I put off watching the new Family Guy for an extra hour. I believe that says enough about the meeting.@@dear mother of god.@@
No, I don’t think politics are particularly interesting to watch. I’m not the guy who flips on C-SPAN and watches a bunch of monotone politicians talk to each other. In fact, this is probably the first time I have sat through more than a couple minutes of political banter. Come to think of it, I think I watched about 30 minutes of the 2008 presidential debate. That should be a pretty good barometer as to the extent of my political interest.
This time was different. I really, truly enjoyed watching students and their government believe in something. They collectively believe in it so much that they were willing to stay until 4:30 a.m. to make sure all the issues were out on the table and situated before compromising and adjourning.
In my time at the University, I feel like there hasn’t been a large involvement of the student body with its government. I, for one, have never taken an interest. Prior to this, I honestly didn’t think that the ASUO did much at all. I saw them as a group of people that hounded you during the most inconvenient times, asking if you’ve voted yet and if you’d vote for their group.
But all of a sudden, the ASUO seems like they actually are exercising what power they have. They are fighting for the student’s best interest, and doing it efficiently. They step between the University and big projects when they see something that the student body may overlook.
I like it, guys. Good work.@@First we push Greek Life, now we’re promoting the hard-working ASUO. What is the ODE world coming to?@@
Now we have seen the ASUO in work. We know what they are doing and how they are doing it. People have stepped in and participated with the group and helped make a compromise in the senate between groups that are calling for drastic solutions, such as impeachment.
We need to see this as an opportunity. I’m not saying there will be a huge topic to talk about each senate meeting, but there will be discussions that affect people on this campus, whether it’s one group or the whole student body. If you’re upset with something that’s happening, there shouldn’t be anything stopping you from attending the meeting and starting the change that you think needs to happen.
The other week, we saw that people can make a difference in the juggernaut that is the University. With the right argument and actions, students can make the change that they think is vital to the student body’s well-being.
If we don’t step up and keep our voice in the mix of the decisions, the University will swallow us. The separation between the University and its students seems to be forever expanding. We can grab the last handhold and pull ourselves up to relevance again.
Remember, they are here for us and they know it. I’ve talked to Robin Holmes, the vice president of student affairs at the University. Although we had a short 40-minute conversation, it was clear to me that she wants the students to have what they want and what they need. In fact, her whole job is to be here for us.@@she lives to serve@@
During the meeting, when the surrounding crowd erupted with laughter as Sen. Jena Langham@@http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jena-Langham-for-Senate-Seat-9-DFC-Vote-3C/106473406050319@@ said that Holmes’ job is to be here for us, they were laughing at a woman whom the crowd didn’t care to understand. She’s just waiting for us to take a stand. Once we understand that we are more than a cog in the ever-turning wheel of the University, we will see the changes that we can make.
All we need to do is show an interest and our needs can be met.