After months of uncertainty and speculation, both of the University’s Student Government Councils will finally merge into one body.
We at PantherNOW believe – and have always believed – that this merger will have positive effects to the University since it will ensure that students from both campuses will receive an equal amount of representation as well as countless other benefits.
The merge, initially proposed in November 2017 by the constitutional review committee, will be in place at the conclusion of the Spring 2019 elections. This will mark the first time in over 25 years that the University has had a single SGA.
Since 1992, the University has had two separate governments for the Modesto Maidique Campus and Biscayne Bay Campus — the reason for this being the demographics between the student populations in both campuses were pretty even, as BBC had about 20,000 students and MMC had about 25,000 students, according to accountability.fiu.edu.
Rather than demonstrate unity under one University, the separate governments created divisions and confusions among students than clarity.
For instance, the split almost makes it seem as though every section, whether online, MMC, BBC, or I-75 campus, should have its own governing council, further dividing students into sections depending on the campus.
This merger makes it clearer that the University stands as one and gives SGA the opportunity to tackle university- wide issues as a whole, regardless of the distance between both campuses.
BBC will especially benefit from this new change, as the campus has suffered significantly from a lack of communication and representation.
Of course, the change may not exactly improve the current vacancy at BBC, but it may give the campus the boost it needs at the Board of Trustees meetings. Under one SGA, a student from BBC could become president and sit at the Board of Trustees meetings, giving BBC students the opportunity to have their voices heard at a larger scale.
More attention given to BBC at the BOT meetings gives the campus a platform to voice their concerns and address any issues they face.
The SGA merger will prove to have long-lasting benefits to the University.
We as Panthers deserve to have one government that fully represents our concerns and needs as students and looks over both campuses without overshadowing one over the other.
Feature Image by Nicole Malanga/PantherNOW.
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