Power Hungry SG Leaders on Jupiter Campus Don’t Want Change
During SG’s constitutional convention in November, SG leaders and students met to rewrite their ruling document. But there was one thing Jupiter students were adamantly opposed to –senators being elected by college.
Students that attend the Honors College at Jupiter also live on-campus and rule SG. And they want to keep the old system – anyone can run, anyone can be elected.
They decried that there were no off-campus students currently involved in Jupiter’s SG. And said the Honors College, which makes up just under 20 percent of Jupiter’s student population, would be shafted if those provisions were to be put in place.
Other students suggested electing senators by college, and if no off-campus students ran for the positions, then in-house elections could be held to fill those spots with HC students. They quickly rejected the idea, and stated firmly they would be opposed to any such action.
Some of those students repeated their opposition two weeks ago during the second part of SG’s constitutional convention.
Jupiter Governor Ed Fulton says he doesn’t know why off-campus students aren’t actively involved, but says it could be because many of them are older, have children and/or outside jobs.
But the Treasure Coast campus and the Broward Campuses are in the same predicament. Neither of those campus groupings has any on-campus housing so all of the students involved in SG are off-campus. Furthermore, the average age of those student populations are older, have children and/or outside jobs.
Even the Boca campus, which has on-campus housing, has an abundance of off-campus students serving in SG.
When asked if they exclude off-campus students, Fulton said “We like to think not.” He says non-traditional students are interested in different things such as help with paying for books, free scantrons and they would even like childcare.
While the answer or reason may not be clear, it is evident that the Honors College and off-campus students are disconnected.
Last year at one Jupiter senate meeting that I attended, three candidates were running for an open seat in the senate. One senator asked each of them the same question “What are you going to do for the off-campus students.” The response was surprising.
By the tone of their voices it made it sound like off-campus students were some unusual life-form that needed to be further studied.
Fulton says there is a clear divide between off-campus students and the Honors College. “It’s like a separate school.” And says he never comes into contact with off-campus students in an academic setting.
He also admits that the Honors College “has that stigma about being elitist.”
Jupiter’s SG should take a hard look at their shortcomings rather than justify the current system that is clearly broken and promotes an atmosphere of exclusiveness.
Students that attend the Honors College at Jupiter also live on-campus and rule SG. And they want to keep the old system – anyone can run, anyone can be elected.
They decried that there were no off-campus students currently involved in Jupiter’s SG. And said the Honors College, which makes up just under 20 percent of Jupiter’s student population, would be shafted if those provisions were to be put in place.
Other students suggested electing senators by college, and if no off-campus students ran for the positions, then in-house elections could be held to fill those spots with HC students. They quickly rejected the idea, and stated firmly they would be opposed to any such action.
Some of those students repeated their opposition two weeks ago during the second part of SG’s constitutional convention.
Jupiter Governor Ed Fulton says he doesn’t know why off-campus students aren’t actively involved, but says it could be because many of them are older, have children and/or outside jobs.
But the Treasure Coast campus and the Broward Campuses are in the same predicament. Neither of those campus groupings has any on-campus housing so all of the students involved in SG are off-campus. Furthermore, the average age of those student populations are older, have children and/or outside jobs.
Even the Boca campus, which has on-campus housing, has an abundance of off-campus students serving in SG.
When asked if they exclude off-campus students, Fulton said “We like to think not.” He says non-traditional students are interested in different things such as help with paying for books, free scantrons and they would even like childcare.
While the answer or reason may not be clear, it is evident that the Honors College and off-campus students are disconnected.
Last year at one Jupiter senate meeting that I attended, three candidates were running for an open seat in the senate. One senator asked each of them the same question “What are you going to do for the off-campus students.” The response was surprising.
By the tone of their voices it made it sound like off-campus students were some unusual life-form that needed to be further studied.
Fulton says there is a clear divide between off-campus students and the Honors College. “It’s like a separate school.” And says he never comes into contact with off-campus students in an academic setting.
He also admits that the Honors College “has that stigma about being elitist.”
Jupiter’s SG should take a hard look at their shortcomings rather than justify the current system that is clearly broken and promotes an atmosphere of exclusiveness.
posted by J.P. at
11:15 AM
3 Comments:
As an HC alumni and former Student Government student leader I would like to weigh in on the atmosphere of the Jupiter campus (I was actively involved on the Jupiter campus from 2002 to my graduation in 2005, serving as Night Owl Director, Governor's Chief of Staff, Campus Controller and as a de facto Program Board Assistant). Not to niggle but Honors College students make up roughly one tenth (not one percent) of the population of the MacArthur campus and as such are actively involved. There is far greater incentive for a residential student to get involved in helping to shape the place where they spends the majority of their time than there is for a commuter student who spends perhaps two or three evenings on campus each week. This is not to say that there has been no commuter student involvement, in fact during my tenure we had senators, a senate speaker and even a governor that was a commuter student.
In the years that I was a member of Student Government on the Jupiter campus many attempts were made to reach out to MacArthur Campus Commuter Student and while most proved fulfilling, they fell short of encouraging increased participation in Student Government. In my experience many commuter students were non traditional and as such were too busy to give the enormous time commitment that Student Government requires. They generally thought that Student Government was doing a good job and did not see a reason to change.
However, the solution to the problem (if in fact there is a problem) is not to mandate commuter participation through codification in the new constitution but to draft a transparent and accessible system whereby commuter students who are so inclined can join student government.
To create a system whereby delegates are chosen by college rather than campus does a great disservice to those students who take courses at satellite campuses rather than on the main Boca campus. Main campus students are likely to be residential students or traditional aged commuter students, not the nontraditional commuter students that dominate the satellite campuses and as such are unlikely to represent the perspective that satellite campus, non traditional commuter students hold. It seems that the 'solution' creates a far bigger problem than it sought to remedy.
I wish those charged with drafting the new constitution the best of luck and urge them to remember that the decisions they make now will effect student leaders for years to come.
Henry Townsend
FAU Honors College `05
Whats really funny is that originally the honors college was supposed to have its own campus senate separate from the main jupiter campus senate but it was abolished because the honors college was too small.
The honors college kids found out they could control the jupiter campus senate just by showing up and voting and participating. Good for them!
I'd like to reiterate Henry's comment that
1) anyone on the Jupiter campus can run for any position in SG (and has). To add to Henry's list, the Program Board Director last year was a commuter student.
and
2) the Jupiter campus commuter student is non-traditional; thus Jupiter's population is different from Boca, and this would explain why the representation of Jupiter commuters is limited. Simply put, they have more important things to do.
and
3) Wasn't the most recent Northern Campus Editor of the UP an Honors College student (referring to Liz Cannon)? Looks like either the UP participates in this "power hunger" or perhaps it doesn't exist--Honors College students just happen to be available and motivated.
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