If UNC Student Congress wants to enact meaningful change next year, it is imperative that it not only makes itself more accountable to the student body but also includes input outside of Student Congress.
The only attendants to a public forum concerning Student Congress reforms last week were a few congress members. Not one person outside of congress attended.
While it is obvious that Student Congress suffers from some difficulty in adequately publicizing their events, the crux of the problem is that it seems Student Congress itself is not committed to the change it wants to occur.
Some members of Student Congress leadership have admitted that there is a general lack of accountability and commitment from congress members. For instance, 80 percent of congress representatives failed to attend the public forum last week.
Simply put, that is unacceptable and it needs to change. That is why the ethics committee must not just consider but actually pass a stricter system of sanctions on attendance this session. This will help foster a greater commitment to congress.
If members of congress aren’t committed to their jobs, it is unfair to ask students to share a greater level of involvement.
The first priority of congress members should be to take their responsibility more seriously, and then they should it reach out to the student population for opinions.
About 7,000 people voted in the runoff election last week — indicating that at least for the moment people care about student government.
It would behoove Student Congress to make their public forums as effective as possible — first by working within themselves and then by reaching out.
