The Tripod

The Student Government Association (SGA) broadcasts a live feed of their weekly senate meeting on their Web site. Any interested party can watch it, free of charge, from the comfort of their home or dormitory. Instead of riveting political dialogue, what is more likely to be seen are squabbles over what is and what is not "out of order." Parliamentary procedure is necessary in order to keep a meeting moving and effective, but in order for dialogue to not crash and burn into a passionate yelling match, it is also necessary that SGA members fully understand procedure.

Witnesses of the Sunday, March senate meeting, which focused on the debate over cable (see the News article on page 1) saw Parliamentarian Nathan Kirschbaum '09 constantly correct senators' actions, which consistently strayed from what has been deemed "in order." These corrections, however, were rarely respected by the senate, and often provoked further argument, rather than polite compliance.

In an absolutely bizarre turn of events, the senate twice motioned and voted to apparently remove all rules to facilitate debate, prompting David Kimball-Stanley, Senator for the Class of 2009, to exclaim, "We are in no man's land," and "There is no order!" If the senate believes it is possible to achieve success in dialogues by removing the rules, then why bother with parliamentary procedure at all?

The proceedings appeared especially ridiculous when many of the senate members were visibly frustrated and confused by what was going on. Many of them appeared to not take the procedure seriously, which begs the question concluding the previous paragraph to be asked again.

The Tripod does not mean to belittle the effectiveness of the SGA this semester. Quite the contrary, in fact. Zona Mexicana no longer exists at Trinity, due in large part to a survey conducted by the SGA. The SGA has provided the Bantam Bus which, consistency of use aside, was something for which students had expressed a desire. The SGA has been holding forums on important topics in order to better make decisions based on students' opinions. To see one's representatives argue over procedure instead of getting to the meat of the matter is, quite frankly, embarrassing.

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