Opinion
Student Assembly lacks student input
By Evelyn Torsher ’17
April 24, 2015
Last semester, I helped the Hamilton College Student Assembly to host a student government conference for student leaders from other NESCAC colleges. It was exciting and interesting to hear the perspectives of other colleges’ students about topical issues like drinking, facilities and student government transparency. Most interesting to me, however, was the variety of conversations I had with other student leaders about student government’s role as a bridge between the students and the administration. According to its constitution, one of Hamilton’s Student Assembly’s primary purposes is “to provide the governing bodies of the College with the best possible understanding of the sentiment and opinions of the student body, and to foster the serious consideration of these opinions.” Some delegations which attended the conference had great relationships with their respective administrations, and others had great relationships with their student bodies; it was wonderful to learn about how these relationships function. It made me want the same for us.
I believe that the relationship between our Student Assembly, student body and administration suffers from two primary issues: a lack of communication between Student Assembly and the administration, and a lack of support from the student body for Student Assembly. Hamilton administration works hard to include Student Assembly in its decisions, which is admirable, but there is undoubtedly room for more communication between the two bodies. It would be great for Student Assembly to have representation at every administrative meeting or to have Dean of Students Nancy Thompson shoot SA President Andrew Fischer an e-mail before she does anything at all. However, that is unrealistic and unreasonable. The administration does not have the time or resources to include students in every administrative decision, and Student Assembly does not want or need that much responsibility. SA leaders have regular meetings with Associate Dean of Students Lisa Magnarelli and Dean Thompson, and they among others make themselves very available to student feedback. Still, we as students struggle to feel totally included in administrative decisions.
Beyond this, however, I believe that the relationship between Student Assembly and the student body is key. Students are reluctant to get involved in SA or to attend meetings because they feel like we do not have much say in what goes on. In fact, I think that Student Assembly has a lot more power at its disposal than students realize, and that the administration is much more open to feedback than we make it out to be, despite the obvious lack of communication I mentioned in the last paragraph. SA needs more of a presence in the Hamilton community, but frankly I am not sure what else we can do. My fellow class representatives and I make ourselves (and lots of free coffee) available for two hours each month to hear and discuss suggestions. Our meetings have a public comment period, and the SA e-mail account welcomes feedback. Our faces are even on the wall at the Diner so that you know who on campus you should approach with questions, comments or concerns.
I too would like to see Student Assembly doing more around here. However, in order to get there, students need to show their commitment to change by getting involved and to take advantage of Student Assembly’s resources. If we can get more students to show up to SA meetings than to yak about the organization’s inefficacy, Student Assembly will be much more likely to be able to get you what you want. In short, we want to help you, and we want change too.