The Tripod

We're supposed to think the Student Government Association (SGA) isn't doing anything productive. We are supposed to think of them as people working in vain against an apathetic student body and an administration with no money. I would major many students, particularly underclassmen, couldn't name who the SGA president is (Andrew Grubin '10), who the Vice President of the EAC is (Chase Caillouette '10), what any of the executive positions actually do, or who fill the other three steering board positions, Executive Vice President, Vice President of Finance, and Vice President of Multicultural Affairs (MAC). But don't feel so bad, Trinity College community; Grubin couldn't tell you who fills those last three positions either, because currently, nobody does.

The Executive Vice President went abroad, fair. The Vice President of MAC stepped down, sure, whatever. The Vice President of Finance was vindictively kicked out last semester by an SGA that takes themselves far too seriously. An integral part of a "Student Government" is the adjective describing the noun: Student. Being a student means a few things. First, your power isn't all that real. It is real within in the bounds of the College, and assuming that the administration-that is, those with actual power-say it's okay. Another integral part of "student" is learning. Our time here is learning experience, and we exist in a community designed to let us make mistakes, to fall and get back up. For the SGA to remove a candidate, one who was clearly not very popular (she won her election by only ten votes over a significantly less experienced opponent), just screams bully. The way the Tripod handled the situation was no better, quoting Facebook statuses and effectively pointing fingers at our classmate and kicking her while down. We don't put together the Tripod to pretend to be professional journalists, we do it as an exercise in a program that may be geared towards that, but most likely not. Similarly, the SGA does not exist in order to be a golden shining example of government, but rather an exercise in government. In both areas, members are allowed to make mistakes, because they are, as students, allowed to make mistakes, and to learn. That's the point of all this, after all.

Removal doesn't teach anyone anything, or breed anything but disdain and distrust. And now, because the SGA thinks far too highly of themselves to let one of their own, a member for seven semesters, trip and get back up, they all but exposed her publicly, stole her jacket, scarf, and mittens, and shoved her out into the cold. Because of the vindictiveness of our student "representatives," any type of productively has effectively been delayed. From my short time in the Senate I can tell you that the Finance job is the most technical, so whoever is elected in the upcoming special election will have to be trained quickly. The woman who held the job before the ousted is abroad, and the one before her was ousted too. If the SGA is ousting people for patterns of unacceptable behavior, maybe they ought to oust themselves.

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