The Student Government Association (SGA) voted Wednesday to increase the student activities fee from $60 per semester to $126 per semester matching the average fee among other California Universities.
Whether or not this is a good idea is beside the point. It happened. They’ve already staked a claim on your extra $66 a semester starting next fall and this resolution is not getting overturned.
Let’s think about the future.
SGA the Inter-Club Council (ICC) and the Student Programming Board (SPB) have given themselves more of students’ money so the onus is now on them to prove that they deserve it.
We’ve given you more money so now we need to see some creativity some imagination and some hard work showing us that you can provide that.
But that challenge to the existing members of these organizations is only part of it. Many of the people who presented this change will be graduating this spring so they owe it to their organizations to leave them with a legacy of creative funding treating each cash blast as an injection to stimulate coolness on campus not simply throwing money in the general direction of something.
Further everyone needs to know how they can be involved in improving campus life. These organizations are not mysterious bodies that hold their meetings in secret and away from the general student body. They are your friends and your peers and these groups welcome your involvement and your input.
Here’s how you can get involved to help spend this money to make Pepperdine University the campus that you want.
SGA
Not everyone can get elected to SGA. Sorry but that’s the nature of our democracy. Anyone can however draft and present a resolution to SGA during their (hideously early) Wednesday meetings at 8 a.m. in the TAC.
SPB
The Student Programming board is a group of 11 students hired by the University to put on events and social activities for the rest of the student body. They’re the ones who do the CoffeeHouses the spring concerts etc. In fact the Board is now accepting applications for next year’s student programming board. If you think the activities on campus need work well here’s your opportunity to show them how it’s done.
ICC
OK the Inter-Club Council is really really cool and here’s why. To get a voting voice in SGA you have to win a popularity contest. To be a chair on the Board your application has to compete with other interested parties.
But in the ICC any person who can get 10 students and a faculty member behind them can have a voting voice in the school government.
All you need is 10 students and a faculty sponsor to join the ICC and that means that each meeting a delegate from your group gets to help decide where this new money will go.
The Point
So here’s the deal. With greater money comes great responsibility. The student body is looking to you SGA ICC and SPB for some visible change. They want to know that you deserve it. We want events — bigger and better. We want a proactive SGA and an engaged ICC.
But those organizations are made up of ordinary students and they need more ordinary students with extraordinary ideas passions and drive to make those ideas a reality.
Now you know how to get involved. If you don’t stand up and get involved then this time next year if you’re complaining about how all that money’s has been squandered you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.