All six branches of student government met Wednesday night at the annual State of the School address. Over 60 students attended the event. Almost every one of them was affiliated with student government in one way or another.
That is a bit ridiculous. For a group that consistently cites greater student input and interest as a goal, more needs to be done.
For whatever reason, this semester student government has once again failed to capture the widespread interest of the rest of Penn's student body. This is a shame, because student government members work hard and have a significant impact on the college experience of many undergraduates. Penn students don't care enough, and this should change.
In terms of the State of the School event, perhaps attendance suffered from a lack of advertising. Last year, several e-mails were sent out. Beyond that, there should be flyers and announcements in the week leading up to it. Perhaps imitating the federal government, which previews several noteworthy items that will be addressed in the days before the event, could have an impact. Also, scheduling the event during a Penn basketball game, even a sparsely attended one, should probably be avoided if possible.
But the problem is greater than one event. It is true that student governments at many universities face a similar challenge, but that is no excuse. While uninterested students can often be cast as antagonists to student government's interests, in the end they often want the same thing: a body with its finger on the pulse of the Penn community that is ultimately too accomplished to be ignored.
Unfortunately, suggestions and constructive criticism are sometimes met with an attitude of "good suggestion, but we're already looking into that." But presenting more concrete examples of progress than that would go a long way toward showing students just how much work student government really does. The matter of textbooks is a perfect example. Anyone can find alternatives to the Penn Bookstore's prices; that's why online exchange Web sites exist. Fully articulating a specific plan that will mitigate the high prices and increase access to used textbooks for Penn students, and then following up with updates on how the matter is proceeding, would give undergrads a distinctly different perspective.
This is fundamentally difficult, as time is definitely not on student government's side. For every issue it brings to Penn's administration, committees must be formed, discussions scheduled and publicized and widespread support shown among the student body. As President Bush would say, it's hard work. But then again, so is anything worth doing.
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