Southern’s reinassance will rely on campus unity

By now, most people on campus have seen or heard the results of the 2008-09 Student Government Association’s new leadership.
This editorial isn’t about the winners, losers, campaign managers actions, or the increasingly bitter aftermath of the student representation.
After going on a hunt for candy, flyers, and a goldfish that didn’t last the night, one has to wonder: what’s next?
Who will stand up and begin to clean the campus from the litter from frozen smiling faces and glowing attributes?
Who will take down sheets and yard signs urging the student body to vote for them?
Who’s going to step up and fulfill their platform, even though they didn’t win, and help beautify the campus?
It is my hope that leaders and those who were not successful in their quests for campus leadership remain, first and foremost, students. More still, with our institution facing grave retention and enrollment problems, the outgoing and incoming regimes need to brainstorm and work with the administration to come to a proactive solution that will last more than the months any one person is in office.
I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed it or not, but the Baton Rouge campus is undergoing a change. Former Southern students have made comments regarding how, for lack of a better word, “whack” their school has become.
When the SpringFest lineup was announced, I was disappointed. Not only because I’m not the biggest fan of any of the artists, but because I felt that someone, somewhere knew that the student body would not agree with any, if not all of the choices. I am fully cognizant of the so-called budgeting problems, but after the concert fee was raised yet again, I have to wonder if that’s the best the activities committee could come up with. In Homecoming and SpringFest past, no SUBR friends of mine would ask, plead, beg for the ID of any student that wasn’t going to the festivities. These days, even with the open door policy with a purchase of a ticket, no one wants to come.
In editorial’s past, I have written that I’d rather non-Southern students attend their respective college campus’ activities. But the fact of the matter is now, however, no one wants to come to our activities, no one wants to come to Southern, no one wants to even go to class, which is why they fail and create problems in retention.
Don’t get me wrong, the main purpose of any college career is to receive and retain the knowledge needed to either jumpstart a career, or further the higher education journey towards a master’s or a doctorate. But, the fact remains that while in school, the social aspect of college life plays an intrigal part of a student’s life as well.
After the glow and the sting of a win or lost has settled, both the student body, its government and the administration must work together to begin to tackle issues bigger than shouting match at a debate, candy and empty promises-and begin cleaning.