SGA lacks proper training

   Even if it isn't a real government, Student Government Association (SGA) should strive to be one by learning and practicing the ethics of governance to the best of its ability.

   As the first since SGA restructured from Associated Students, last semester was a mess for SGA. There was little accountability because senate and executive council are not being trained as independent bodies that keep each other in check. 

   The legislative and executive branches train and meet together with hardly a voice of dissent on any given matters. After an off-campus training session last semester that cost $4,080.98, SGA senators hadn't reviewed the election code to identify the executive council's failure to follow election procedure and cleared its use of paper ballots with the senate first. That's a severe lack of ability on senate's part to hold executive council accountable. 

   This semester, senate should train independently of the executive council and with political science professors on campus who can teach them their roles. Although learning how to bandy with administrators is an important skill as a campus senator, there should be more of an emphasis on learning how to operate as the legislative branch of a constitutional government. Senate needs to learn to critically evaluate the executive council's actions, not act as a mirror of acquiescence for the council.  

   Don Will, associate dean of Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences and chair of the department of political science, is open to helping senate train. This would be a great opportunity for SGA to stand apart from previous student governments on this campus and start a tradition of properly training its members. 

   Every student-funded organization should have an adviser with the training needed to guide students when they make mistakes or run into obstacles. Independent student organizations should be able to make decisions unimpeded by administration, but it also needs to have the resources to learn. Training should be more than team bonding, standardized skills tests and a review of the established operations. SGA needs some cold hard political theory to guide it in making ethical decisions.