As I prepared for stories to go in the paper for week five of The Daily Eastern News I started to realize a pattern I have seen in one of the student organizations covered on a weekly basis.

The student government meeting agendas have been less than intriguing with only one resolution passed in the first month of classes.

While student senators receive no stipend for their work done with student government, the executive board does. They receive free tuition coming from student fees in the tuition bills every student pays on campus.

This gets my gut a bit.

After a month of free schooling, they have done little to aid the student body that has “elected” them and are paying for their free schooling.

Which brings me to my next point. Students should realize this and voice their opinion about it.

The student government is a very loose replication of how the state and national governments work.

In order for things to change, the citizens, or in our case the students, must voice their concerns to their elected official.

By paying for the tuition of the executive board through student fees, many on this campus should feel an obligation to see they are doing their jobs correctly. I have heard more than once that the student government does not have much pull or does not do much on campus.

However, I feel they could complete major projects for the students if both parts of the system would hold up their end of the deal.

By not having done much yet this semester except fill the empty seats, make the beginnings of Panther Nation and complete some other internal housekeeping, the members of the student government are reinstalling the notion of illegitimacy of their organization into the heads of those located on campus. Which simply isn’t true.

Representatives sit on panels for the Apportionment Board, the Board of Trustees, the Student Action Team and the city council.

At the very least, these members of our student government have the ability to talk with the individuals who have the major power affecting the lives of students while at Eastern.

Students should be making the effort to voice their opinions and feel free to talk to the student leaders about ideas or issues they have.

The offices of the student leaders are located in the Student Activities Center and their e-mails can be found on the Eastern website.

By opening the lines of communication between the leaders and the students, improvements can be made for the school as a whole.

Both students and their elected student leaders should feel challenged to leave the campus better as a senior than when they stepped onto Eastern’s facilities as a freshman.

However, if everyone is satisfied with mediocre results, this goal can never be obtained.

Kayleigh Zyskowski is a senior journalism major. She can be reached at 581-7942 or

[email protected].