At Southern University we arepriming students to become professionals, break molds and set a higherstandards in life.
When students at SU are facedwith a problem they are advised to seek assistance from the Student GovernmentAssociation. The only way to do this is to go to the SGA office located on thesecond floor of the Smith-Brown Memorial Union and address the person(VOLUNTEERS, elected and appointed officials) who should greet you in theoffice with your problems.
The SGA addressing your problem seriously and coming up witha valid solution is an issue within itself, but someone greeting you andacknowledging that you are a guest in an office is a battle worth fighting for.
I recently went to the SGA officeand was confronted with loud noise, mayhem, disorder, pandemonium, rudeconduct, vulgar language, lack for authority and complete disrespect.
There were more than 10 studentsin the office and nobody was concerned about what I needed. I wanted to get theSpring Fest agenda so I could publish it in the paper. (The SGA has not sentany information to The Office of Student Media about the upcoming events. Theonly information received was a request for volunteers.) After, I was rudelygreeted as “That’s that messy_____ from the DIGEST!”
Yes, someone I we elected calledme that in the SGA office, while I was trying to do my job as a journalist(professionals tell me hatred comes with the territory). If any question I asked, or anything Isaid was thought provoking enough for you to still remember it, I was doing myjob as a journalist and my point was heard.
Sometimes it takes “mess” to finda solution. People say the SU grade scandal was mess, but several false degreeswere found.
I voiced my concern about beingcalled out of my name to their adviser Russell Frazier and ACCORDING to him itis taken care of.
Overwhelmed and disgusted, with alook of dismay on my face I continued to ask them (everyone in the officeincluding candidates vying for higher positions in this year’s SGA presidentialelections) what is scheduled for the Spring Fest agenda. I was answered by, “We don’t know;nothing is finalized.”
I was thinking to myself, “So,Spring Fest is when? April 23–less than a week away and you don’t knowanything?”
I am sure you might be saying tyourself, but “You did not approach them as a regular student you went to themwith DIGEST business.”
In the April 20, 2004 edition ofThe Southern DIGEST a student, Latasha Weatherspoon, a speech pathology andaudiology major from Ville Platte had a similar confrontation with the SGA andwrote a letter to the editor:
After reading the Digest onFriday and not finding the Spring Fest line up, like promised the nightbefore. I called the SGA office tofind out.
One of the students in the SGAoffice responded to my inquiry by childishly listing Kris Kross, Vanilla Ice,5th Ward Weeby, MC Hammer and The Dixie Chicks as our guests.
Receiving this type ofresponse to a simple question proves the belief that SGA should be deemed anexclusive social organization.
Apparently it isn’t anorganization for the students by the students anymore.”
Every member of the SGA needs totake a class in office decorum. The SGA is supposed to be an outlet studentscan confide in and get their problems solved.
In the state SGA is in now, theycan’t answer simple questions or perform office etiquette, so how can theyrepresent us as STUDENTS when they won’t even talk to us. I hope our new SGApresident is ready to go to war, because the gangs in SGA need dismantling.
