Can this be the year Student Government makes us care?We have high hopes each year. Maybe this new set of suits pretending to be University administrators will be different. Maybe this lineup will consider student opinion more important than the praise of University administrators.Maybe — just maybe — students won’t have to set their SG hopes and expecations so low that no one could notice when they inevitably fail.Optimists that we are, we believe this year can be that year.SG President Colorado         Robertson and Vice President Shannon Bates were elected last Spring with the narrowest margin in recent memory — 13 votes. Every vote counted in their election. And every student who cast a vote for them is responsible for their actions.So the ball is in SG’s court, and if Roberston and Bates want to put an end to apathy and make reform a priority, they are uniquely positioned to do just that.With money.Bates and Robertson can change Student Government by making transparency its platform. Students shouldn’t have to wait until malfeasance to reveal the dubious expenses our leaders have made on our behalf. A weekly release of all SG expenses posted on the SG Web site would do much to restore confidence in our leaders. Each legislative allocation, presidential initiative and contingency expense — be it $50,000 on newspapers for the campus or $5.00 on staples — should and must be accounted for.But knowing where the money’s going after the fact isn’t enough. Bates, Robertson and the SG Senate should take a page out of Harrison Marks’ book. The 2008 Yale College Council treasurer, Marks pushed for the YCC to devote $5,000 to any issue chosen by Yale’s student body. Dubbed the Student Development Directive, Marks’ initiative allowed students to submit ideas to their SG, and the best ideas were put before the student body for a vote the winning idea gets a startup financial allocation of $5,000.Rather than ask what SG has done for them lately, each Yalie who rents a DVD from the YCC DVD Library knows exactly how their student government worked for them.”It worked out extremely well,” Marks told The Daily Reveille. “When I came into my role as treasurer I felt that Student Government at Yale really should              interact with the student body more. It really should help the student body get their ideas put into place.””When students want something,” Marks added, “when they want a change to the campus, they usually want it immediately.”We can’t afford to wait another year for some mythical future SG president to fix student apathy. We want to see a change from business as usual.And just like our fellow students at Yale, we want it now. —- Contact the Editorial Board [email protected]