Under Section 4.3 of the FUSA Constitution, number four states, “At least once per academic year, the President must issue a ‘state-of-the-university’ address to keep the student body informed on FUSA’s initiatives on campus.”

Well apparently this year, FUSA President Eddie Muniz is exempt from this obligation after vetoing the bill that requires him to do so at the prerequisite time. Until The Mirror was poised to print the story exposing his refusal to give a speech.

This initial refusal to hold a ‘state-of-the-university’ address as scheduled, seems to coincide the recent resignation of multiple FUSA members.  It leads us to wonder about what is going on with FUSA and if they are hiding something.

The last minute save of face has The Mirror more worried about FUSA than the initial refusal to speak.

As with any form of democratic government, the people have the right to know what is going on with the people who represent them.  Being able to get up in front of your student body and spout out even a general report, such as, “Our support for our sports programs has grown this year,” or “I continue to be proud of my fellow Stags” is something students want. To not say anything at all makes an even louder statement that something is terribly wrong.

The media’s job is to call the government out when they do something wrong, but our job as members of the Fairfield student body is to support our school through its ups and downs. And so we encourage Muniz and the other FUSA members to be truthful to us, not just as the campus’ media outlet, but as students who attend Fairfield University and who deserve to know the truth about the state of our school.

While FUSA promises to represent and advocate student voices, this year these voices only whisper around campus pathways and between Barone booths. Whether students anticipated the speech or not, the informative session to keep students up to date with University plans and actions and offer them this venue to voice their opinion, may or may not happen. The lack of a proper setting to discuss and promote student ideas hurts students as well as FUSA progress.

You are the gatekeeper between student needs and administration. Your Constitution “seeks to create a government that is accessible to all students.” Not holding a state-of-the-university address seems to signal a red flag alerting of a weak commitment to your student body and suggesting disorder within your system.

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