Serving the people

Yesterday's editorial laid out a few suggestions for how student government elections can be reformed in light of voter apathy and declining turnout. But elections take place but twice a year. There are a number of things that government bodies can do to keep up the interest of the student body.

The common perception among students is that branches of the student government -- in particular the Undergraduate Assembly -- do not do anything.

This is not true. The UA and other bodies do a number of things that often go unnoticed -- and that is part of the problem of voter apathy.

Students need to take the initiative to look into what their representatives are doing for them and hold them accountable for their actions. But often it is difficult to evaluate the work done by UA members. Many projects come to fruition through committees whose records are not publicized. If more of the assembly's business were voted on in the general body -- whose meeting minutes are readily available -- it would be easier for outsiders to gauge what their government is doing for them.

In looking back at the voting records from the past year, there are really not that many votes by which to judge representatives. Only six roll-call votes were available to be used as criteria in evaluating candidates for re-election. Granted, there are many procedural issues that can be passed by simple voice votes, but when it comes to matters that affect students directly, votes should be recorded. This way, all representatives are accountable to their constituents.

To help in this, we will be continuing to offer our online voters' guide, which lists UA representatives along with voting and attendance records and will be kept current with each meeting. We encourage you to take a look from time to time to see how the people you elected are serving you.

Many students may not be aware that the UA is responsible for resurrecting the Penn Course Review and eliminating smoking in campus residences, among other things, this past year. If the UA as a group -- and the individuals who sponsored the resolutions -- were to further promote these initiatives, they would gain credibility with the general population.

One way of doing this could be for all representatives to have their own UA Web site on which they could list their achievements and the projects they are working on. Creating a mechanism for those who are elected to communicate with those who elected them would further legitimize the entire process.

But the most significant thing that the UA could do is take advantage of its greatest power: the purse strings. Each year, the UA allocates over a million dollars of student money to various campus organizations. That Spring Fling concert? The UA is paying for it. Money given to groups under the Student Activities Council? UA doled it out. Performing arts groups? UA again.

The assembly has the power to set the budgets for all of these entities. And since it is the only group that is directly elected by students, it should exercise more control over how that money is spent. If, for example, the Spring Fling concert continues to be a disappointment to students, the UA could consider withholding funds from the concert planners until a more satisfactory show is arranged. Now that would be a service to constituents.

All of these things would remind students that student government does serve a purpose and has power to enact change on campus. Once the general population at Penn realizes that, it will be more inclined to participate in the election process.

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