By Michael Walsh

Last semester it became obvious to me that not enough students at CCSU know, or care, about what our Student Government Association actually does, and how important it is for them to take notice of their actions.

The amount of money handled by the 37 eager students on the SGA attendance list is almost hard to believe. When President Matt Vekakis told me that their budget was between $600,000 and $700,000 for two semesters, it dawned on me how important their actions truly were. Vekakis added that roughly $430,000 of that total budget goes back to the students in the form of club disbursements, an area that became a hot topic for the senate in the fall semester.

It seemed like it was a weekly thing for senators to be arguing the merits of club contingency requests. Some thought clubs should be penalized for not submitting a proper budget request on time, while others felt that circumstances such as club membership turnover or the lack of information given to them should allow them to get a second chance from the senate. Either way, there is no discussion in the SGA by-laws about penalizing clubs for submitting late budgets. What was clear was that as a whole the senate had trouble coming to a consensus. Consistency became lost over the semester as money was disbursed to clubs and minor issues such as refreshments for the Veterans Student Organization and socks for the tennis club were among the items to be possibly chopped from club requests, leading up until the last meeting, where a discussed money request from the hockey club raised temperatures in Bellin Gallery.

Being literally the only outsider student at the SGA meetings who doesn’t have a rooting interest in a club, it seemed that communication between senators and their treasurer could have been improved. At the Nov. 17 meeting it was announced that the senate had spent well more than what they wanted to spend on contingency requests for the semester. They weren’t bankrupt, or anything like that. They had supplement funds, but the news came with the senate looking head-on at even more requests for money, that if they were to deny wouldn’t make them look too good to the clubs in need of a few thousand dollars. At the time it seemed to be a surprise to the majority of the senators.

From simply looking at the last few election results, it’s clear that there is some lack of interest from the student body towards the SGA. This disconnect is not good as a whole. There were less than 1000 total votes made in the race that decided this years president. It took some senators in the fall 2010 election 50 votes to win their spots on the senate. It’s evidence for a lack of interest from the student body as a whole when they seemingly are uninterested in what type of people are making the decisions on how to spend their money.

SGA meetings, although sometimes bogged down by lengthy discussion over subjects that don’t deserve to be talked about as much as they can be, are an experience every student should sit through to gain an appreciation of the entire process, the senators themselves and of their university. It’s evident that the majority, but certainly not all of the SGA senators care mightily about what they’re doing. On one hand, some senators disrespect the process by shouting out of turn and being far too loud when they shouldn’t be. But the effort some put in to try and actually change things on this campus is great to see, and that effort should be appreciated greater by CCSU students by attendance at meetings and a greater connection to the senators who, in the end, represent their wants and desires.