Serving the students
After one year in the senate and resigning my seat last week to focus more on my new position as Student Centers President I have had some time to just reflect a little on the actions of Student Government by what it stands for and the way it serves students.
This last year has been a learning experience for me, from coming on campus as an incoming freshman, to joining a fraternity, to finally becoming involved with Student Government or as some people call it, “an elitist organization at the top of Witherspoon.” Whether you have good or bad feelings towards Student Government there are several ways to get stuff done on campus and SG is one of them. SG is one of the most effective ways to get stuff done on campus because they have been empowered to an extent by the administration. Student leaders within SG ultimately carry that mandate, “to serve the student.”
I joke around sometimes with the phrase “for the students” typically with Lock Whiteside who has been one of the biggest advocates for students on this campus. When it comes down to it, serving the students is quite a large and important mandate. The students ultimately are left to the leadership of the 64 individuals in the student senate. One of the biggest things they need to be reminded of is that they serve our interests as the entire student body and not their own. A senator may not agree with an issue or with an idea but they need to put that behind them. When a vote comes up on an issue or idea, the way their constituents would demand they would vote needs to be the way they actually vote. This is the most important idea that gets lost a lot of times from SG. The internal bickering inside of SG is ridiculous and the ultimate goal of serving the students at this land-grant institution needs to be remembered.
N.C. State is supposed to be a university serving every person in the state of North Carolina. The University is not some lab experiment to test new ideas or make radical changes; it is a place that was intended to lead in innovation especially in the fields of agriculture and mechanics. Nowadays, these innovations have stretched into textiles, management, forestry and natural resources, and basically into every one of its majors. The overall point is NCSU is an institution built by and for the people of North Carolina; it is a place to continue tradition and excellence and serve the general public and not to serve fringe organizations and causes. As student leaders and administrators pick up these ideas they need to remember this is NCSU and not UNC-Chapel Hill. We have a mandate from the people of N.C. to maintain a mainstream conservative university as was intended to happen when the taxpayers funded a school focusing on the sciences of agriculture and mechanics.
Student leaders need to remember the principles of the original organization and their allegiance to the students, not their whimsical ideas. Administrators need to remember that NCSU is not a liberal arts college. It is a college based out of the principles of hard work and conservatism grown out of the working mentality in agriculture and mechanical sciences. Student leaders and administrators both need to serve the students first and then the special interests.
Peter Barnesfreshman, forest management
