Marquette’s student government is always making the claim that they are interested in hearing student opinions, insights, comments and suggestions. However, from what one can see as a student, it does not look like they are actually all that interested.
College of Arts and Sciences junior Brian Lois does not feel he is represented by MUSG. When asked if MUSG cared about student opinions, Lois responded, “No, they don’t care what students think. They’re going to do whatever it is they do regardless of what anyone on the outside says.”
Another opinion came from Claire Milbrandt, also a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences gave a short chuckle, before responding, “No, they don’t even listen to hall council opinions.”
There is certainly no reason to think that MUSG is not soliciting student opinions. Every Senate meeting they hold a “Forum for Concerned Students.” At which point, since no students go, the Senate moves on to the next item on their agenda. It is rather fun to see all of the senators turn to the empty chairs at the back of the room, filled usually by only two reporters, who also analyze the other 30 chairs to see if there is someone that we are all just missing.
MUSG has also placed a comment box in the AMU—the same building as their office. In essence, if you have a comment, rather than stopping by the MUSG office, they would prefer you to find this box and put it in there.
In response to my last article, I personally received an email from a MUSG senator asking me for my thoughts on what MUSG can do to improve. I responded saying I would publish the letter and what I would like to see in the next issue of The Warrior. The Senator responded with a resounding NO. Clearly, it does not look like they actually want to listen to student’s opinions. It appears rather that simply soliciting comments is a formality that MUSG feels compelled to comply with.
Another thought (something which I enjoy, encourage, and take into account) came from Megan Wagner, a senior in the college of Business Administration. Megan said, “I do think they [MUSG] listen to students because they are students.” Megan continued, “If they are not listening to us now, that really sucks that they are going to be our world leaders.”
Megan has a great point. If these people involved in MUSG cannot concern themselves with the thoughts and opinions of others besides themselves, how can anyone continue to elect them, why would anyone continue to put them into these positions, why would anyone let them become world leaders?
Most would not allow this to happen. However, since most people do not vote in the MUSG elections, the people filling positions continue to pass those positions along to their friends. One fraternity on campus, Kappa Sigma, has an outlandish amount of their members within MUSG.
These positions include the executive board, both the Presidential position, and the Financial Vice President position.
MUSG maintains itself as a Good ‘ol Boys club, one in which you must know the proper people to get in. After all, the previous president, Brock Banks, was a member of Kappa Sigma, before the position was passed down to Ray Redlingshafer. Can I predict the next president to also be from Kappa Sigma, perhaps John Kristan is being groomed for the position, or perhaps it is to early for that prediction.
When MUSG is a group run by a close pact of friends, or a brotherhood, there is really no need for the Senators or other members of MUSG to listen to the opinions of students. They can have their fun without taking the dreadful comments of the students into account. The students of Marquette need to reach out to MUSG and force this policy of complacency to be changed.
Popularity: 4% [?]
September 11th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Why would MUSG be so opposed to an open letter from you? Is it because feedback is much easier to ignore when it is dropped in the suggestion box rather than openly discussed in the school paper? Hmmm….
A suggestion for your next column (or a series of columns): The Secrets of the MUSG brotherhood, an Inside Look at MUSG
Keep up the great work Mr.Schuster.
September 15th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
I am not a Kappa Sigma, but I am in Marquette’s Greek Life as a Sigma Chi. I know some Kappa Sigmas and can vouch that they are some of the nicest, most hospitable guys on campus that are looking to please anybody and everybody. They are not your typical “Frat boys”, if you can even narrow fraternity members down to that stereotype here on campus (which I find highly offensive when facing that stereotype myself).
The truth is that the Kappa Sigma members in MUSG, that went through the same due process of election as anyone else, volunteer their time and energy to serving us, the students who democratically voted for them. And as such, a democracy cannot work if the people are so apathetic as to not show up to meetings to voice their concerns.
So who really is to blame? The entire student organization of Kappa Sigma? Or the students who say that MUSG doesn’t listen to them when they don’t even speak up, or better yet, don’t take charge and run for student government positions when they are available? I say the latter.
Why doesn’t Schuster interview the leaders of student organizations to measure up MUSG instead of random students? Or other nominees of MUSG, like Guiseppe Poppalardo, people who actually know the inner workings of student government? Or how about figuring out the issues that your interviewees have instead of just publishing that “MUSG sucks.”
Overall, Schuster’s selections of opinions from random students on the matter were not impressive, and his criticism on Kappa Sigma was unnecessary. If Schuster wants to rile up student vigor for involvement, condemning MUSG was not the answer.
P.S. How can Schuster even write this article when he published this article in April, approving of Redlingshafer and the direction MUSG was going????
http://thewarrior.org/2008/04/02/new-president-new-outlook-better-musg/