Why does student government exist? What are its aims?
These questions are rarely asked because there is an assumed identity and legitimacy inherent in student government.
Students, staff, and faculty tacitly delegate responsibilities to student government without ever stopping to question its purpose, challenge its goals, or examine its fundamental premises. This is unfortunate because truly understanding the answers to these questions will allow students, administrators, and faculty to better comprehend the essential function it plays in college life.
Why does student government exist?
To discern the spirit of the student voice, to cultivate and sustain student leadership, to advocate for students, to create outlets for student thought and action, and to direct student activities?these are the central aims of student government. These aims are permanent and unwavering.
Being the official representative of the student body is a commonly misunderstood and challenging aspect of student government. As representatives, it is our duty to gather student opinion, frame, refine, and relay it to the broader college community.
We are not merely a medium through which student thought passes, but a processing mechanism through which sentiments and opinions are clarified, strengthened, and structured. This is our obligation as informed members of the College community.
Furthermore, the representative aspect goes beyond the academic community. This is a complex aspect of this issue because it requires the most responsibility. Student government is the sole body that speaks for the entire student community. As such, there will often be times when the student government is called upon to take positions on issues that, to the common eye, extend beyond the College community.
We should remember that we do not exist in a vacuum?that while we are students in our most immediate situation, we are still members of a broader community. The moments when the student government takes positions on issues that extend beyond our campus walls are the moments that force the student body to remember what it means to represent a varied group.
Again, student government exists to discern the spirit of the entire student body. These are the moments when we are most pointedly reminded of the student government's role to gather, frame, refine and relay student opinion.
Cultivating and sustaining student leadership, the second aim of student government, involves providing opportunities for students to gain valuable leadership experience and helping them grow through these opportunities.
This begins with chartering clubs and allocating money to student activities. The key question is what is done after these clubs are formed. It is not enough merely to charter clubs or give out money.
Actively challenging student organizations to understand and explain why they exist, creating forums for student leaders to come together to address issues and plan activities and providing outlets for the discussion of the aims of leadership are the fundamental facets of this tenet of student government.
Advocating for students requires that the student government is an outlet for comments, questions, and complaints as they relate to the College community.
This can be seen as a subset of the representative aspect but is so important that it must be separated.
Advocacy is usually individual or small in scope and allows student ideas to gain more traction as they travel through the college community. For instance, helping facilities or security address student concerns about parking, housekeeping, or safety would fall under this realm.
As an institution that creates spaces for student thought and action, it is the aim of student government to create forums that allow students the ability to address the issues, plan the activities, and express the ideas that they think are important.
Central to this aim is the creation and support of venues for deliberation and action. The art of student government is to, at times, pre-empt student opinion through programming or issue advocacy.
Its final aim is to regulate and direct student activities. It is the student government's responsibility to allocate student activities fees in an equitable and purposeful manner, to appoint capable students to committees of the College, to charter student organizations and to organize elections.
This regulating aspect is sometimes cumbersome and draining, yet it is also vital. In the most real sense, this is when student government governs.
The goal is to set the parameters of the various aspects of student activities in a way that is respectful of tradition and encompasses potential. These are the central aims of student government. The means will vary; these aims will remain the same.
DeRay Mckesson is the president of Bowdoin Student Government.