This letter is in response to the scathing editorial criticizing the Student Government Association (SGA) for its colorful recent past and planned move to direct elections next year (“Serious elections require stable leaders,” March 22).
The SGA was created in 1924 to advocate for the rights and desires of NU students. Since then, Northeastern has grown from a small commuter school focused primarily on blue-collar job training in fields like engineering to a globally- recognized university graduating leaders in many fields, from music industry to neuroscience to finance. As a result, Northeastern’s administration has grown considerably as well, both in size and in complexity.
It is the job of the SGA to understand intimately how this university works, how to best collect the opinions and demands of its students and then how to use carefully cultivated relationships with officers of the administration to see that these opinions are heard and demands are met. At no other university in the country does a student government possess the influential abilities that the student government at Northeastern does.
You cite examples in the recent past of SGA officers having run-ins with the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution, but don’t forget to cite when the SGA not only kept the tuition increase to the lowest it had been in over a decade but also outlined exactly what the increase in revenue should be spent on.
Don’t forget to cite when the SGA single-handedly created the much-needed full-time university position of Sexual Assault Counselor, and don’t forget to cite when the SGA fought for and ultimately received a plan from the administration for a multi-purpose athletic stadium to be built in the next five years.
Northeastern’s SGA has displayed its maturity and its influence many times over. If a student has a problem, the SGA can solve it, and if the SGA knows the students want something, the SGA knows how to get it. Next year’s move to direct elections will effectively bring the student body another step closer to its leaders, and together anything is possible.
I encourage anyone interested to stop by a weekly Senate meeting any Thursday at 2:50 p.m. in room 332 of the Curry Student Center. Also, feel free to contact the Student Government Association office at ext. 2651 for information on becoming a senator or to simply air a concern. We’re here to help.
– George Gottschalk IV is a middler economics major and an SGA senator.
