Does Your Student Government Actually Do Anything?

By Bryce Buchmann on February 27, 2014

Student government, associated students, student assembly, and student senate are all terms used across the country to describe groups of college students working to represent the interests of their fellow students on campus. These organizations vary in size and involvement but often work to promote community service and call attention to the opinions and problems facing college students.

Student government is a helpful tool for achieving common goals that most students share, but may not be effectively communicated to university administration without democratic organization. Many college students see student government as a small organization with little purpose, but this attitude ignores the potential impact student politics can have on a university and students in attendance.

One question often raised by people as they consider the impact and importance of student government is what these organizations actually do for students. While size and scope of student government varies by school and region and affects the level of importance these organizations have, some of the larger universities provide examples for how student government takes an important role in the community.

In 1982, the Student Government Association at Texas A&M started a community service project called Big Event, which is a one day community service project aimed at cleaning up College Station and the surrounding area as a way to say “thank you” to the surrounding community. Since then, Big Event has caught on at over 60 universities across the country and continues to grow.

This is just one example of a great impact student government organizations can have on their schools and communities.

Student senates and other elected bodies represent student opinion on major issues concerning student life including university rules, fees, and services. Although a student government decision is not considered binding for administration to follow, having an organized process of democratic representation gives a voice to student opinion that may not exist otherwise.

Aside from the large-scale benefits like these, there are also opportunities for personal growth and experience which make participating in student government a valuable endeavor for any student. Being elected or serving in an appointed position, students learn about government, administration, and teamwork in ways that very few other opportunities in college can provide.

Organization of student government organizations varies greatly between schools, but typically resembles American government in some ways. It may be divided into executive, legislative, and judicial branches, or kept smaller with just one or two sections.

The United States National Student Association was founded in 1947 at the University of Wisconsin and now has an office in Washington D.C. where most university student governments across America are represented.

In 1967 it was uncovered that the CIA had been providing funding for the National Student Association to send students to study abroad and, presumably, gather information useful to the federal government. Specifically, this program was designed to keep an eye on communist sympathizers abroad. It was discovered that the CIA had been playing a role in student government affairs since the 1950s.

Photo Credit: Flickr.com / Cali4beach

Despite all the ways these organizations can be beneficial, college students often express the belief that their student governments are ineffective and pointless. This argument may stem from students’ lack of knowledge about student government but also likely reflects acknowledgement that these organizations have no binding authority by comparison to university officials and lack substantial political legitimacy.

When student governments first gained popularity in the late nineteenth century they were seen as a method of educating students on how to be responsible citizens in a democratic society. Some experiments at the time even tried modeling elementary and high school structures after city and federal government.

Opponents of student government at the time argued that instead of encouraging responsible citizenship it would simply reproduce the corruptions that existed in real politics.

One of the supposed benefits of student government would be calling attention to political issues as students did in protests during the civil rights movement and Vietnam War. But surprisingly in the 1960s student government actually declined in importance. As social structures changed and students began to protest an unequal distribution of power in the lives of college students, their political organizations began to reflect debates and opinions on college campuses which did not garner long-term attention and often only interested a small number of students.  

But regardless of how some people perceive them, student government organizations continue to thrive on campuses across the nation. They organize projects to clean up parks, hold votes to demonstrate the opinions of students to university officials, and represent the student bodies as well as they can. Getting involved in student government is something anyone with a drive for public service and a knack for public relations should look into. Holding office in college may not make someone the next Bill or Hillary Clinton, but remembering that both of them were involved in their own college student government should offer some encouragement.

 

 

 

 

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