Last semester, in our Nov. 22 edition of The Griffin, we wrote our editorial about the United Students Association (USA). The article was titled “USA: an Underused Student Association?” In it, we wrote that “as the semester has unfolded, USA has become increasingly stagnant, with empty seats and lackluster participation in senate meetings.” This semester, The Griffin, having been present at every USA meeting, has noticed those empty seats filling up and conversations being more productive. The senate meeting last week, on Feb. 21, was the best senate meeting that the current staff of The Griffin can remember attending.
The main part of this meeting was the discussion from the chairs of the University’s Financial Sustainability Committee, and it was productive and illuminating, thanks much in part to the questions coming from USA members. The more impressive part of the meeting, however, came during the second half of the meeting.
The USA E-Board encouraged the senate to move the meeting into an executive session, which means everyone who is not a member of USA is told to leave the room. The purpose of an executive session is to discuss sensitive topics freely, without prying ears (like those of The Griffin) listening in and reporting on what was said. When a motion was put forth to move the senate meeting into an executive session, the senate rejected it. This was a dramatic and surprising moment. Votes like those happen every week, with motions rarely rejected. And so the meeting went on, with The Griffin and other non-USA members in the room.
The senate held the planned executive session conversation anyway. They discussed the state of the senate itself, and how the senate can be more effective and responsive to the needs of the Canisius student body.
The conversation was frank, difficult and intense. We will not get too deep into specifics here, as a transcript of the meeting is not what this editorial is about, but the general themes that were covered were the need for better communication within USA, more agency on the part of senators and the need for more student engagement. In The Griffin’s view, the conversation was a credit to everybody in USA. The USA E-Board deserves credit for opening the floor up for potential criticisms of USA, and for listening. Such a conversation would likely not have come up naturally without the push from the E-Board, and if the E-Board had wanted to, they could have gone without prompting a conversation. The senators deserve credit for their eloquence and willingness to say what, in their view, needed to be said. Senators also deserve credit for voting down a motion to carry out the conversation in the privacy of an executive session. More than maintaining transparency, it displayed the agency that individual senators have at their disposal.
Speaking personally for a few sentences (not as The Griffin), my initial reaction to hearing about happenings in USA during my freshman year was that of eye-rolls. I found the idea of student government stupid: it could be nothing more than a social club and a hub of drama among students who thought too highly of themselves, I thought. Certainly, it is possible for any student government to descend into such a club. Hearing about what transpired at last week’s senate meeting could be construed as nothing more than drama for the sake of drama. However, it is The Griffin’s view that that is not the case. What The Griffin saw was a group of students genuinely concerned about the welfare of their school and a genuine desire to use the organization of which they are a part to shape their school into a better place. That is what student government should be.
The student government at Canisius has, as far as the Canisius community goes, genuine power. They routinely receive substantial updates on the state of the school and opportunities to provide feedback on the future of Canisius, have access to a lot of money and put together many events. Therefore, as was discussed in the conversation, individual senators do have a lot of agency, as do students not a part of USA, should they choose to bring a concern to USA.
It is ironic that a discussion about some of USA’s flaws ended up shining such a positive light on USA, but that, in The Griffin’s view, is what happened. It takes a lot for a club to be so introspective, and that USA did it so well is impressive. Last week’s senate meeting was not only significant for what was said during it, but what it showed about our student government. It showed a student government that has real power and takes its role seriously. Everybody conducted themselves admirably during it. As USA elections for next year come around in the coming weeks and months, and USA meetings continue weekly, non-USA members should consider that USA is an organization that has the potential and wherewithal to deal with problems students face at Canisius.
-JPD
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