The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

USG off to slow start

After the first semester of Tequia Hicks' reign as Undergraduate Student Government President, senators and former members question the semester's productivity.

The constitution, which was drafted over the summer and brought into discussion at the beginning of the school year, sits untouched and unaltered, and a majority of the meetings were used to discuss bills about Registered Student Organization funding.

Rob Taylor, who ran against Hicks in the April election, said he believes student government this semester has been ineffective.

"Tequia promised she was going to bring on more students, and she hasn't done anything," Taylor said. "There's nothing in the agendas that spur student interest. They [USG executives] are more worried about their personal image and personal interests.

"I think we have a student government that is non-functional."

In November, Hicks expressed her own concern with some senators' poor attendance records, and Vice President Nate Brown said problems in traditional USG practice were to blame for senatorial disinterest.

Neither could be reached for comment.

Sen. TyJuan Cratic said although the semester has been "pretty rough," he wants next semester to run more smoothly.

"We obviously didn't get going with legislation and great opinions until later in the semester - not only the legislative part but the executive part as well," Cratic said. "We're hoping to rectify those and bring more student perspective in the next semester."

Cratic said internal quarrelling has been a problem in both the senate and the executive board. He said when he asks his constituents for their opinions on USG productivity, many either did not know what function the body serves or had a negative opinion, something he wants to change in the upcoming semester.

"We've shown we are changing and we are growing," he said. "It depends what is going on in office - what the agenda the president has set, how well the senate gets along, our structure, our communication - and that's what it comes down to if we want to have a better semester."

Student Trustee Ed Ford, who sits in on all USG senate meetings, said the relatively new senate is doing the best they can with their sometimes limited experience. He said he is hopeful next semester will be more issue-oriented, especially in the area of University access to all students.

"I think one thing that was different than usual is, I would say, generally the senate has to be about half and half: half who have previous experience and half that are new," Ford said. "I think a lot of senators from last year didn't run for re-election because they weren't asked to. Usually the president asks a number of senators to run, and Tequia and Nate ran on their own last year without a number of senators with them."

Ford said the senate this year shows promise for the upcoming semester because a lot of the senators are interested and enthusiastic. He said this differed from both Hicks and Brown, whose enthusiasm is shown by the lack of passage of constitutional amendments.

"I think it was not a good idea to pass the thing as a whole, and it is not any condemnation of the senate," Ford said. "They [new senators] thought the constitution is a pretty important thing, so basically the senate said the constitution we have isn't that bad."

Taylor, however, criticized the executive board for not bringing more issues to the senate for consideration and possible resolutions.

One major issue for Taylor is the Student Activity Fee, which is money taken from student tuition and given to USG to appropriate. He said he fears McAndrew Stadium may possibly be revamped with money from student fees.

"[Athletic Director Paul] Kowalczyk's been on the news trying to get a new football stadium," he said. "If they get the stadium, there's no doubt there will be a student fee for it. Right now, the turnout doesn't warrant a new stadium, but they'll play it as a health and safety issue."

Taylor also wants more polling places on campus in April's annual USG election so older students have more places to cast their vote. Conventional polling places are Morris Library, the Student Center and the three residential dining halls.

He said he saw the mostly new students on USG as a problem, given the large budget.

"It's like a high school club that gets $25,000 or $35.000 a year and doesn't do anything with it," he said.

Ford disagreed, and said that turnover is normal. He said as senators "figure things out on their own" and focus on issues instead of funding, a better semester is ahead.

 

 

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