Article for the Maroon

Here's an article co-wrote with Hollie Russon Gilman. We're hoping it'll end up in the Maroon this Tuesday. Enjoy and comment.

PS - This article is meant as neither an endorsement of Your-SG by Hollie nor an endorsement of Hollie by Your-SG. It doesn't endorse anyone except the free flow of ideas and student involvement.

It’s just another Sunday in Spring Quarter and we’re both enjoying a delicious Pierce brunch. And like any true U of C students, we don’t just see this as a chance for some bacon and eggs, but also rather as another chance for a truly controlled sociological experiment.

“Excuse me; do you know that there is a student government election a week from Tuesday?” We ask of two first years at our table. Blank stares. Confusion. Shrugs.

We kindly offer an explanation for our intrusion: there is in fact a student government election on April 24^th to elect the Executive Slate (President, Vice President of Student Affairs, and Administration) and both undergraduate and graduate liaisons to the board of Trustees. Trying to explain ourselves and ease the awkward tension, we try to explain that this is crucial time to get involved with student politics: a new President of our University looking for change, a call from students for change on everything from applications to genocide, and a near universal feeling from everybody that things are going to change.

“Would you say you’re a representative sample for the rest of this room? That everyone here has no idea this is going on?” Both students looked at each other and shrugged “I guess so.” As everyone returned to their French toast, you’d think we would have been feeling glum about student participation. But a subtle change had occurred to our fellow brunchers which gave us hope.

Even after this brief encounter, we saw the spark in their faces. Suddenly, the horizon was blue again: what if we lived in a campus (or a world) where Student Government was the constant talk at the brunch table? What if issues of student engagement and increased communication amongst students, faculty, and administrators were as common place as Locke and Friedman? The only reason they are not is because there is limited awareness amongst students about the role of Student Government, the very working and going ons of the SG (that’s the acronym), and the possibilities for reform.

This is in fact the most ideal time for students to get involved. Despite individual feelings toward the Divestment Campaign, it is marked as a watershed moment in student power – our school is historically unwilling to engage in a dialogue about the University’s role with the greater world, now students are given $200,000 to start a process of research. President Zimmer is willing to engage and discuss issues of paramount importance to the University: financial aid, diversity, student engagement, and sustainability just to name a few of a very comprehensive list. Everyone, from student activist to administrators to those of us in student government, is asking: can’t we do better?

The closing of the A-level is an event that is marked by many undergraduates as yet another step by the University towards taking away what little joy we have here, but in reality it represents the horrible disconnect between students and administrators. Had student’s been consulted on this issue, the administration would have known instantly that people feel an emotionally, physical, and psychological connection to the A-level. The sad thing is this move wasn’t because the administration is cruel or hates our UChicago-ness but rather because they just never thought to ask.

Clearly there is a lot that needs to be done. But there are also a lot of people who are excited by the possibilities for reform and have new and innovative ideas for change. But these ideas do not matter if we have an election that is about who you know and not what you know. We go to a school that prides itself on nuanced analysis of primary sources. We deserve the same from our Student Government elections. Everyone benefits if we have an open and honest dialogue about issues. Yet, the elections are a week from Tuesday and there has been little to no discussion, anywhere. If Mill is right and we ought to let the best ideas rise to the top, then lets give the entire student body an opportunity to vote those ideas into place. May the best ideas win.