Many students were initially skeptical of Jeff Seiser as he was won the position of FUSA president last year.
After having Hutch Williams ’08 in the presidency for two years, students were accustomed to having their president be the boisterous young man with the red wig and body paint at all the sporting events. But, in reviewing Seiser’s presidency, Seiser has done just as much as, if not more than Williams, even if he isn’t necessarily the the most vocal man on campus.
In his state of the University address, Seiser cited the progress that FUSA has made in working with the administration to affect change in the community we live in three-quarters of the year. Coincidentally, many of the issues discussed at the meeting are the ones many students have been whining about for some time. Seiser reminded us of the improvements that have been made concerning the academic advising process, transportation on and off campus and diversity initiatives.’
And, of course, FUSA’s mission has changed due to the national recession. He said that he will remind top administrators at every meeting of the need to keep students currently enrolled at Fairfield at the University, even if this means the transference of funds from other programming to improve upon and build stronger financial aid packages.
While it is easy to students are up in arms about the OCB lottery or the choices for concerts, these plights can sound pretty petty when you hear that one of your neighbors down the hall had to leave Fairfield because he or she couldn’t afford tuition anymore.
That is, though, not to say that efforts for other issues should be abandoned. As tuition-paying students, we deserve to see changes that can be made at this time.
Certain complaints about FUSA and campus issues do not equate to the amount of people working to solve these problems. Sadly, many of the same people complaining about absent solutions are also those who are unable to name the FUSA president and unaware of the progress being made.
Students may vocalize problems with transportation and housing to their friends, but immediate solutions seem few and far between. As Seiser emphasized in his Monday address, students have an increasing say in once administrative-only committees. Many of these appointed representatives are members of FUSA. Students, who otherwise did not care about the fate of student government elections, should see the value in casting their vote in the spring if they want to help be part of the solution, rather than remain angry undergrads.
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