Despite fervent protests from Biscayne Bay Campus students, the idea of a merger between the Student Government Council at BBC and the Student Government Council at Modesto Maidique Campus is moving more towards becoming a reality.
The proposed change that would combine the two councils was discussed during a student and administrator comprised and university-wide constitutional committee on Tuesday, Nov. 28.
Up until the early 90’s, FIU did have one SGA, but it was then reconstituted into two governments.
Since then, we at PantherNOW have long advocated for MMC and BBC’s SGA to be one cohesive unit. FIU is one university — BBC and MMC are only an hour’s drive away from one another, many students take classes at both, and we only have one president in Mark B. Rosenberg — but our student life has been divided in its leadership and options.
So we’ve always questioned why — if SGA is supposed to be one unit — power is distributed between two presidents.
Under the proposal, both MMC and BBC students would be eligible to run for president and would have two vice presidents, one from MMC and one from BBC.
Other changes implemented are meant to act as a checks and balances system to keep the executive and judicial branch accountable.
If the two governments merge, the changes made would be for next semester’s election season, but wouldn’t be fully implemented until summer or fall 2018.
We’re happy to see the idea of shared power and leadership in SGA, but this move raises other worries, especially for BBC students. At the meeting, many wondered whether if the two governments combined BBC would be underrepresented.
It’s a problem now, actually — at the meeting, according to a PantherNOW article, students brought up how difficult it was for BBC to communicate their problems with administrators.
As a university, we have created a culture where you need an incentive to get anything done. Let’s look at SGA’s dinner proposal. SGA is considering providing free dinner at senate meetings like other universities because of how late the senate meetings will be.
The senate might be later in order for more senators to attend, but providing free dinner for those who are present seems like an incentive to get members to attend. Shouldn’t members of the senate be attending the meetings anyways if it’s their job?
We should also look at campus events. What’s the one thing that events do to draw in a crowd of people? Campus Life gives out free food to those who are present and participating the events’ activities. Whether it be free pizza, free breakfast or free donuts, Campus Life seems to know exactly what will attract a Panther.
For senators, it seems likes there’s not enough of an incentive for them to do their job. But what they and we as students need to remember is that senators are paid out of student fees.
So why do they need an incentive to do their job, especially if we as students are paying them? Our money and concerns as Panthers should be enough of an incentive for senators to do what they were meant to do. If not, then maybe they shouldn’t run for office.
As stated on their website, SGA’s mission is “to serve and empower Florida International University’s student community by identifying, addressing, advocating and communicating students’ needs, concerns and interests.”
FIU is one university, so to “serve and empower” the University means both MMC and BBC equally.
There’s also the question of whether there is such a thing as “solely a BBC or MMC student.” Compared to MMC’s 27,000 or so students, BBC only has less than 10,000 students. And in one way, shape, or form, students have been involved at both campuses. Most BBC students take classes at MMC, while many BBC students take online courses.
So we all have something to say about both campuses, and we as students only want the best for our University, our education and our college experience.
We at PantherNOW want to see one SGA because just like Student Media, which is one entity, FIU is one university and we as Panthers are one student body, so there should be one government that looks over both campuses equally. What we do not want is MMC to overshadow BBC, or vice versa.
SGA is a major component of student life and what it decides for the school directly and indirectly affects everyone involved in any form at FIU. Therefore, SGA needs to merge as one and look after its student body as one important entity.
Photo courtesy of Nicole Malanga.
About Post Author
