Last semester, Greg Stern, a junior computer science major, decided the computer science department needed to offer a course in one of the more modern computer programming languages.
Stern did not bring the issue to a member of the Student Association. Instead, he went straight to the dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the head of the department to discuss the problem.
Several members of the faculty agreed with Stern, and the department will implement changes next year. Stern said one of the reasons he was successful was that he went straight to the administration with his problem, not the SA.
“(The SA) is useless, I got my voice heard and changed things without putting my name on a poster and pasting them up all over campus,” Stern said.
Like Stern, many students said the SA does not accomplish enough and they are not interested in it.
However, SA leaders said they believe student interest in the SA is increasing and several candidates promised student interest would increase next year.
In addition, last week’s SA elections had the highest voter turnout in nine years. However, despite this increase, the 2,858 students who voted represent roughly only one-fifth of GW’s total enrollment.
Do average students care about the SA?
“Absolutely not,” SA presidential candidate Jason Ditzian said. “I know this because I am an average student. The SA is useless.”
Ditzian and other students said the SA suffers from elitism and has lost touch with average students.
“The people who care about (the SA) are the people in it,” Ditzian said. “They get into office, loose touch with students and get a fabricated meaning of existence.”
“I don’t really know what (the SA) does,” said freshman Matthew Zivot. “I know what the state government does, but I don’t see that the SA has any control over policies. If they don’t have control over that, then what are they doing.”
Freshman Cava Camacho said the SA needs to publicize itself more, so that more students understand what it does.
SA President Kuyomars “Q” Golparvar said he believes student interest in the SA has increased during his four years at GW.
“I really wanted to reach out to students who care about the SA this year and then go beyond that,” Golparvar said. “It has been important to my administration to reach out to students and show them that the SA can be a vehicle for their concerns.”
Some students said the SA has been addressing student concerns this year.
“Q’s done a great job,” said sophomore Jonathan Lany. “In order to be in that position, you have to listen to people, even if you disagree with that. “Q” has listened to people and said `Okay, we’ll take a look at that.’ You don’t see the administration do that.”
Several students said they would be more interested in the SA if it dealt with smaller issues that affect students’ everyday lives.
“Students will be more interested when they see results in their everyday lives,” SA presidential candidate Carrie Potter said. “When they go to class and they have a seat, that is what the average student cares about. These are the kinds of things the SA should be advocating for.”
SA Executive Vice President-elect Jesse Strauss said the SA should not need to have students paying attention to accomplish its goals, but also promised to try to increase student interest next year.
“The SA is only an office, what matters is the people you have in it,” he said. “We’re going to put some average students in the SA next year. We’re making progress, but it’s slow.”
