Bobcats are not even halfway into the 2018-19 school year, and the opportunity for a fresh start has already been undermined by Brooklyn Boreing’s political mess. Fancy suits, weekly meetings and office spaces have previously conveyed legitimacy to students, faculty and media. However, nothing about Student Government in the past year has been legitimate, and it surely has not earned any of the front-page attention it has received.
News organizations, such as The University Star, deserve part of the blame for legitimizing an illegitimate organization. Week after week, Student Government has been in the headlines and on the front page. The Star’s coverage has placed Student Government’s incompetence on a pedestal. While doing so, other great organizations have lost the opportunity to have their meaningful work displayed on a local platform.
The Student Government website states that Student Government “exists to represent the student voice to the faculty and administration.” It expresses the organization’s excitement “to bring about positive change to our community and campus.”
Time and time again, however, its members have contradicted these very statements as they have exhibited they are incapable of handling any form of representation, let alone for an entire community. Over the last year, there have been numerous examples displaying Student Government’s loss of legitimacy.
Student Government members were incapable of attending mandatory impeachment hearings for former president Connor Clegg last semester. Those senators’ lack of attendance non-verbally conveyed to their constituents—who they are constitutionally obligated to serve—that their voices did not need representation.
Even The Daily Texan, the University of Texas at Austin’s school newspaper, wrote an opinion column in response to the lack of attendance, urging their own student representatives not to make the same mistakes. Not only did Texas State’s Student Government fail their own constituents, they also transformed themselves into an example of how not to act.
Student Government members were incapable of being transparent regarding their own legislation going missing last semester. Legislation is the only commodity allowing them to act on students’ behalf. A lack of transparency in any form of government is a lack of care for constituents. As an organization that only exists for the betterment of students, Student Government could not even do what is arguably the simplest part of their job: to effectively communicate. For a president to state that there were too many pieces of legislation “to keep track of” was an insult to all Bobcats.
Student Government leaders have been incapable of displaying good moral judgment. The morally right thing for former President Brooklyn Boreing to do was to address her allegations head-on. Instead, she took an easy way out by resigning her position, leaving her former organization to answer questions pertaining to her own alleged actions. Boreing displayed that she was not the leader that students needed. When the job was no longer in her favor, she conceded.
Student Government’s future looks as if it is full of even more incapability. President Ruben Becerra Jr. succeeded Boreing, but an investigation could still happen in the near future. Similar to Boreing, Becerra has not given the student body any reason to trust his word. Only time will tell whether or not his fate will be similar to his predecessors.
Political allegations, hearings, impeachments and resignations involving Student Government have passed more frequently than actual meaningful legislation. Bad representation does not warrant front-page attention. Ridiculousness does not deserve attention at all. If Student Government cannot prove that it is an organization that stands with its student body, it does not deserve legitimacy and should be replaced by a more suitable governing body.
– Jaden Edison is an electronic media sophomore