Support at YSU for the Student Government Association is pathetic.
In spring 2012, only 440 students voted in the election for SGA president. That was .03 percent of the student body at the time, a decrease from the .04 percent who voted in the three-way race in spring 2011.
We hear students complain about shuttle routes, graduation rates and myriad other topics every day.
And when SGA has an idea that could actually improve the YSU experience, the student body remains silent.
With a little more than two months remaining in the semester, SGA is broke.
On Monday night, it appropriated its last $900 of the academic year. It started with $32,383.
Since the fall, 70 groups have received financial assistance from SGA, but thriving student life and scarce resources have depleted the fund.
On behalf of future generations, SGA has requested a larger starting amount from the university. It’s time the administration reassesses its budgetary allotment for SGA.
Other schools in the area receive upwards of $300,000 to begin the year.
SGA wants to propose a first-year experience program along with a four-year guarantee that could help students graduate in four years.
SGA President Cory Okular feels the implementation of a four-year degree guarantee would boost graduation rates, an invaluable statistic for YSU given the recently proposed changes to the state’s higher education funding formula.It’s a no-cost, risk-free potential solution to a problem that will financially plague the university. Everybody wins.
The administration needs to start taking SGA’s proposals seriously and giving them the respect and attention they deserve, but that won’t happen without an army of students behind our representatives.
There are more than 13,000 students enrolled at YSU. If we banded together, university officials would be afraid to ignore us.
Let the administration know (politely and legally) that SGA’s goals are your own.
