It’s been a quiet year for Bradley’s Student Senate. Its elected officers have shown up, meetings have been held, resolutions have been passed, yet only three articles and one editorial have appeared in The Bradley Scout, some of which were not even in the print edition.
For a group that is supposed to be the primary voice of the student body, I found that number to be incredibly underwhelming.
I was curious how this stacked up against prior Senate Administrations. I decided to search the Scout’s archives for articles relating to Student Senate during the 2011-2012 academic year. I eventually stopped counting after I read 20. I was left with the question, “Why did the Scout only write four articles this year when they wrote five times that amount the year before?”
The answer to that question lies in another, “What meaningful impact has Student Senate had on your Bradley Experience this year?” The students I talked to while writing this couldn’t name any, and I bet you can’t either.
Huge problems facing every student at Bradley such as rising costs for tuition, housing and food service have received no formal response from Student Senate.
The fact is that when Student Senate no longer fought for the issues that normal students were facing, it was no longer was relevant.
If an organization is no longer relevant, the Scout no longer has any obligation or reason to report on it.
The problem isn’t a lack of coverage but rather a lack of accomplishments to be covered. Student Senate showed up and tackled a few problems, but didn’t touch the ones making a huge impact on our experience on the Hilltop.
These issues can’t be solved until the group of leaders elected from the student body decides to go above and beyond the description of their positions. These issues won’t be solved unless student leaders step up.
-Russell Howland is the BUnited Candidate for Speaker of the Assembly
