A recent survey by The Daily Eastern News shows a high level of apathy by Eastern students towards both their Student Government and the issues it works on.

Yet, student apathy is certainly not a problem limited to Eastern’s campus: student government members around the state face a similar situation.

Bill Archer, undergraduate student body president at Southern Illinois University – Carbondale, said that there is “tons and tons and tons” of apathy at his school.

There’s just no huge issue around campus that motivates students, he said.

As a result of this lack of motivation, Archer said, SIU’s Student Government has had difficulty gathering input on issues that affect students.

“It’s really hard to tell what students want when they don’t really tell you,” he said.

As a result, Archer said, students lose their influence over issues that affect them, from student fees to drinking in residence halls.

“When you have four people standing up and complaining, no one cares about that,” he said.

Lack of education about student government is a main reason for student apathy, he said.

“(The students) don’t understand how we affect their life,” he said.

Archer said SIU’s Student Government has tried to change this lack of knowledge with debates, public forums, task forces, and advertisements in the school’s daily newspaper.

But until people can see that the process actually works, he said, nothing is going to happen.

To do this, Archer said, the first thing is to get a core group of about 10 students who care.

“Then”, he said, “just pick an issue you’re going to fight hardcore. Do everything about that issue big or small. Have people sign petitions, and publicize exactly what happens.”

James Barr, the lone student member of Northern Illinois University’s Board of Trustees, said that NIU’s student government takes the same approach towards combating student apathy.

“We try and go out and speak to the students whenever possible,” he said.

However, Barr said that because of the country’s recent economic prosperity, students are not as interested in social issues.

“(Apathy) is correlated to a certain amount of contentment,” he said. “Things are going very well and have been since the late 1970s.”

As a result, Barr said students have become more business-oriented, and worry less about social problems.

“(Students) are a little less worried about social issues than they are about money,” he said.

That means student governments cannot automatically expect a high level of student interest, he said.

“You can’t keep expecting that students will come out every time we hold a forum,” Barr said. “You’ve got to go out to the students.”

Lindsay Hansen, the governing affairs chair of the University of Illinois – Champaign’s Student Government, agreed that student governments need to go to students.

The key, she said, is to get students involved with the issues.

For example, Hansen said, her school’s Student Government held an outdoor concert just before Student Government elections last fall to combat voter apathy.

Co-sponsored with MTV, the concert was a very effective in increasing the election turnout, she said.

No matter what a student government does, though, Hansen said, there will always be student apathy.

“It’s always going to be a problem on college campuses,” she said.