The Fairfield University Student Association (FUSA) would be more effective and powerful … if it were run by only students.
The administration continues to handcuff the powers and responsibilities of the student leaders who have devoted time and effort to in order to develop them.
Administrators have gone to great lengths to educate their student leaders and create more of them, only to teach them the most valuable real-world lesson: You can only make policy changes at the top of the food chain.
Much of FUSA’s success over the years has come from students’ efforts, including booking concerts and producing a variety of programs every weekend. The office of student affairs has helped students with various projects – and rightfully so.
But if the University wants to give the student body a voice, the administration needs to allow the students speak more.
This year’s election process proves that the administration is still pulling the strings of the FUSA puppets.The candidates were told that they would not be allowed to campaign until the posting date, three weeks before the election.
At that point, the Spencer Thibodeau ’10 campaign was punished because its Loyola rally (perhaps the best example of excitement about FUSA all year) was considered a posting event. Thus, the campaign had its Facebook group suspended because the event was held after the posting meeting, albeit before the approved date to hang posters.
The debate also left something to be desired.
Many of the students in the crowd to whom I spoke were not impressed by the dialogue of the debates. Some even said that they were just as unaware of each candidate’s platforms as when they walked in. I am not sure how an opening statement would differ from a closing statement after just five to eight questions.
Another flaw can be recognized in that officials extended the registration deadline after seeing that not enough students were running for certain offices.
Thus, those who had done their job in registering on time were essentially told that they would now need to welcome late competition.
A great example of the controlled election environment can be seen in the issues and dialogue used by the FUSA candidates themselves. Among the issues we have seen debated are diversity, the ‘feud’ between IRHA and FUSA and methods to promote school spirit.
While I endorse the University’s programs to foster a change on the face of diversity, I cannot help but ask how a FUSA president can find meaning in this. Is this what they mean when the say their goal is “to create a voice for all students of Fairfield”?
In fact, at the debate one audience member said that AHANA students do not even like the title “AHANA.” In my opinion, you are not creating a sense of acceptance of diversity by putting “diverse” students in a club by themselves.
As for the ‘feud’ between IRHA and FUSA, it exists for one reason: The University decided to create two student governments. They even have the same mission statements, although IRHA is more unique in its election policies in that one can only run if already a part of IRHA.
School spirit is an issue of growing concern. Forget the more pressing issues including tuition and campus security, we need to fix this school spirit plague before it gets out of control.
Another example of FUSA falling on the deaf ear of the administration occurred when Senate Chair Tim Rich ’08 tried to obtain an answer on the OCB lottery. Rich presented two letters to the Senate; one of these was written on behalf of Rich to Dean of Students Tom Pellegrino, dated Dec. 7. It outlined his meeting with Jason Downer of Residence Life, regarding housing issues and a request for a follow-up meeting between FUSA senators and Pellegrino.
Rich also presented a response letter from Pellegrino, dated Jan. 4, in which Pellegrino referred the matter back to Downer.
This is not at all an example of an open door policy.
Now, maybe I don’t know everything about how FUSA interacts with the administration, but, according to the goals of transparency that both parties have created, I should.
This election has reminded me of my days playing T-ball, in which every game ended in a tie because the adults always forgot to keep score. Only, in this event, the winner becomes president of a student organization with a $263,500 operating budget.
Here is a message to the administrative referees: Let the kids play!
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