If you’ve ever needed a Scantron for a test or a mask during the mandate, Student Government has been there for you.
Many students, including myself, have already taken advantage of these resources. On several occasions in the past few semesters, I left my mask at home and only had 10 minutes to find one before my next class started. Thankfully, the SG office in the Student Union had plenty on hand to provide for free.
In situations like these, where an immediate need is present in the student body, SG has the opportunity to make a difference. Members of SG function, in theory, as students’ voice in the day-to-day operations of the university.
But how many students are actually aware of what SG does?
“The only thing I know about [SG] is that I walk down Free Speech Alley on election day, and I see a bunch of booths,” biology freshman Danylo Zaitsev said.
For students not involved in SG, campaigns are often their only impression and face-to-face contact with the organization. In terms of what those campaigners accomplish once they’re elected, students are often unsure.
“I have no idea how they affect me at all,” painting and drawing junior Audrey McLellan said. “I’ve never really heard about what they’ve been able to do. I’ve felt like it was just another form of high school voting for president, and then they’re kind of just there. It doesn’t really do anything.”
SG has a marketing issue. Many students on campus have no real idea how their so-called advocates actually advocate for them. How can a representative body claim to be effective when the people it represents are unaware of its functions or purpose?
It would be easy to throw up our hands in despair and conclude that no one on campus cares about what our student representatives can do or achieve, but that is not the case.
Just because students don’t know what SG does, doesn’t mean they’re not interested in learning more about the organization.
“I’d be interested in learning about Student Government,” experimental music and digital media freshman Josio Meda said. “As long as it catches the eye, you know?”
Zaitsev thinks “the university should definitely push more for people knowing what [SG] does.”
Somehow, our university needs to reconcile the existing contradiction between a widespread ignorance of the SG’s functions and the still-existing desire in students to learn more.
One answer could be simply to tell students to do their own research, but expecting students to figure it all out and stay updated on their own could work, it likely would’ve already. The bare minimum of setting up booths during election week doesn’t seem to have had much effect either as voter participation hovers at less than 15%.
If SG wants to have an informed voting base, it should use new marketing strategies. I’m not an expert in the subject, but even a layperson like myself can imagine plenty of possibilities.
Consider the frenzies college students will go into for free food. Couldn’t SG host more widely-advertised food handouts so the student body could meet their representatives?
SG is well known for large events like the annual Groovin’ concert, but could do more to host educational events. Students love to take advantage of free music and food, so SG should combine that atmosphere with an event specifically aimed at educating the community on what the organization is working on and how it functions.
Passing a pamphlet to a student rushing to class is an easy way to create excess trash, but centralizing outreach like this would make the perfect space for the interested to learn more.
Other possibilities vary depending on the resources they require, but any of them would be better than nothing. Posters could display recent events or notable moments in the Senate, or small raffles could incentivize sharing platforms on social media via a designated hashtag.
We could even take a note from history books and select a campus crier to announce recently passed legislation in the Quad. Really, the only thing standing in SG’s way seems to be its own lack of creativity.
Even beyond events or incentives, a slight change in branding could make a significant difference. SG’s purple and gold banners and tablecloths are practically invisible in Free Speech Alley—any number of other university programs and groups will look similar. Like Medea said, just make it eye-catching.
Noah McKinney is an English and history junior from Houston, TX.
