Do They Really Care About Us?

When SU’s election season comes around, we’re excited to see the campaigns, candidates, and voting results. As a student, we meet potential candidates during election week and hear their claims and promises. However, after election week, we barely hear from elected officials. It seems as if the same people we voted for who promised to be a voice for the student body are making decisions without the student body. I understand we vote, and that is their job; however, how are you a voice for a student body that does not know half of the things you agree to on our behalf?
Being a voice for the student body means making sure we all feel heard. The purpose of the Student Government Association (SGA) is to “promote the general welfare” of the Student Body and the University as a whole and to provide both general and specific policies for the “perfection” of the overall function of the system. Senate meetings and cabinet meetings should be more advertised because these meetings inform students and let us know what’s going on within the school. The organization doesn’t express how important these meetings are to the student body. Does SGA care deeply about the student body?
Homecoming events should have been discussed and voted on within the student body. What is the point of SGA if they are making decisions at senate meetings, but we do not know about the changes until they are in place? We can’t fully believe SGA is really concerned about students if they fail to connect with the student body. What issues in the student body have changed because of SGA? How can we believe the same people we voted for work for our interests?
It’s hard believing that they do when, as a freshman, I found out we had a senate meeting from social media and not in a positive way. I did not find out from an SGA member, a flyer hanging around campus, a public announcement, nor from an advertisement in our student newspaper. Instead, I found out from dama circling about the SGA on social media. If these meetings are important to the student body, why is the standard for spreading awareness social media and social media only? The last senate meeting had a large attendance but not because we were informed for a positive reason. It was conflict within our very own Student Government Association that made people attend. Your proclamation promised me free liberty, and I want it now.