Questions remain about PSG
By Kurt Esposito
Assistant
Campus Editor
As the newly elected Student Senate meets for the
first time tonight, one question still remains — has the Purdue
Student Government changed?
Following a controversial referendum vote in April,
the organization was restructured and a new form of the Student Senate
was put into place. A temporary senate was used until this month's senate
elections.
Bridget Maddox, temporary senator from the Schools
of Engineering, said, "I think they're doing better from what I've heard,
but I think they still have some of the same problems."
She said the organization is composed of too many
people who are interested only in politics and their personal agendas.
Maddox said she did not like the fact that student concerns were not
addressed enough.
"They liked passing resolutions telling everyone
the terrorist attacks were bad and they don't condone it. That isn't
something that should be done by PSG," she said.
Maddox is happy that PSG put on the candlelight
vigil for the Sept. 11 victims and participated in the button campaign
to raise money for the American Red Cross. However, she still would
have liked to see the organization do more for the students, such as
holding a forum to discuss Muslim student concerns on campus. "I think
they need to show the student that they can make a difference," she
said.
Stephanie Warner, senator from the School of Agriculture,
said PSG has made it easier for students to communicate with the organization.
However, she said, the senators need to do more communicating and that
is evident in the lack of turnout in the elections.
Elections
Only 1,621 students voted in this month's campuswide
senate elections. Matt Newton, student body vice president, said he
is not concerned with the turnout because it was the first election
of its kind at Purdue. He said that not many students were aware of
it and that PSG will evaluate its elections and come up with ways to
better communicate the election details to students.
Kurt Weiand, parliamentarian of Cary Club and former
PSG senator, said the elections are a good idea because they provide
structure, but students will not care if the elections are not contested.
He said he still sees problems in PSG — seats
are not filled and there is low voter turnout. "It's a flawed system.
I think the voter turnout shows that the people are not happy with the
new system," he said.
Academic school versus housing
The biggest difference in PSG's new system is the
representation within the Student Senate. It is based on academic schools
rather than housing, as it was before.
Weiand said the new system does not promote diversity
and offers only a small portion of student viewpoints. He said representation
should be housing-based because most student concerns are associated
with housing.
"We have far less control over issues relating
to academics than we do issues relating to (housing)," he said.
Warner said that just because representation has
switched does not mean certain student concerns will not be heard. She
is on a committee that is looking into concerns over the use of Dining
Dollars in the residence halls. She said there are senators from different
housing systems representing various viewpoints.
Weiand said the senators are unavailable to their
constituents in the new systems because the constituents have no way
to find them. He said that in the housing-based system students knew
to go within their residence hall or Greek system to find their senators.
He said it was also easier for senators to go to their constituents
if they knew where they lived. Now, he said, a Liberal Arts senator
can walk into the Liberal Arts and Education Building and not know which
students are his constituents.
Newton said students can go to the PSG Web site
or any member of PSG, not just their senators, if they have a concern.
Warner said the system also allows for more communication
between PSG and the various student councils.
N The new senate will have its first meeting
at 7 tonight in the Krannert Building, Room G20.
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