In one week it was over. After a full year of going to Siena Heights University (SHU) Student
Matthew Robinet
Government meetings Sunday nights, after presenting survey results and preparing an overview on student government’s special project for this year, I would no longer be a senator for student government. Instead I would take the title of president, a position I didn’t originally intend to run for.
Last year I ran for junior class senator at the request of Andy Switzer, this year’s student government president. I really had no idea what to expect, especially because student government didn’t even exist under that name until this year. It was previously known as student senate.
This year I fully intended on being a part of student government. As for what role I planned on playing, I hadn’t really thought on it much. I thought maybe I could take on a role with the executive board (E-board), which consists of the historian, treasurer, vice president, and president. That’s when Andy Switzer, once again, contacted me and asked if I had any interest in being president.
In the time it took for me to digest what he’d asked, dozens of questions flew through my mind. The most prominent being if I was the right man for the job. I felt that I had been greatly involved in student government, but I wasn’t sure if I deserved to be president.
From when he asked me up until the day I told him I would run, I had doubts. With my involvement in soccer and track, could I devote the time and energy to school, sports, student government, and work that would be fair to each activity? This was the question that gave me the most trouble. If I were to be the student government president, I wanted to be able to devote myself to being the best I could be, and further build on what this year’s government established.
In politics, most candidates run on a platform, which is a basic layout of what the candidate plans on doing when elected. Until recently, I didn’t know what my platform would consist of. After consideration, I realize that my position, as well as student government as a whole, has a duty to the students of SHU.
Next year I hope to increase student involvement in student government. I know this sounds like a very plain and limited idea, but I see it as a way to expand the organization, hear new ideas, and include the student body in what we as a government are planning.
Student government general assembly meetings have a special component that Student Senate meetings didn’t have before – an open forum. Students can bring questions, concerns, even problems on campus up to us, and we can pass information on to university officials who may better know how to handle the situation, or even have details on how SHU is already working on the problem. It’s this piece of student government meetings in which student involvement has been sorely missed this year.
Talking about increasing student activity and actually doing it are both completely different however. I hope with the new McLaughlin University Center’s student organization area, students will be more inclined to stop by and say hi to any senator that happens to be in the student government office. This will also make it easier for a representative to go to the dining area and talk to students about things that they would like to see changed on campus and administer any surveys that we may distribute next year.
To try and increase student participation even more, I hope to establish meeting topics with my senators and e-board. From talking to students, I have discovered that some people don’t go to the meetings because of disinterest, or because they don’t know what will happen at the meeting. I hope to give them details of meetings, as well as a topic for students to come and discuss if they feel strongly about it, or even if they just have an opinion. I am hoping that this will encourage some people that aren’t sure where to take their problems to come to a meeting and see what it is we do.
All in all, I am very excited about next year and would like to extend congratulations to Bryant White (Vice-President), Anthony Teague (Historian), Gianni Chesnick (Junior Senator), and Nate Brown (Sophomore Senator). These people have already shown a commitment to student government that will only help to grow our organization. I am looking forward to next year as SHU’s Student Government President.