Guice fiddles as Tech football burns

[Dawgonit]

Ummm...... Yes for the Greek section. the rest are a group of students that don't go to games with so called clubs. Yes I was a student fall 14- spring 18. Used to chat on an old app called yik yak with about 200-500 other students. Yes we agreed and regularly made fun of ub and sga.

During my time I only met one quality ub member. The rest were out of touch with the rest of the students as a whole. They have their own space in toliver.

Yik Yak is a cesspool and all the worst parts of social media rolled into one. I wouldn't say that app is a true representation of the student body. If you said most students were apathetic to what SGA and UB does, than yeah I would agree. I wouldn't put all the fault into SGA and UB though as explained below.

Also, the administration wouldn't let ub have a concert with any non Christian bands at the time. Churches out numbered the students. Plus ULM was getting big names like third eye blind, Iggy azalea and a few more big names that I can't think of. So yea the ub members and school administration made it easy to take shots at ub

The administration, at least during the times of Jindal's education cuts, really tied UB's hands and prevented UB from using more money for concerts. Student fees for UB and SGA are considered public money and are scrutinized by state audits (so they say). So if UB or SGA is deemed to be wasting money (like spending 80,000 for only 1000 people to show up, a ratio of 80 dollars spent for each person), the administration says that the state could cut the funding. In order to protect UB and SGA, they would put limitations on the amount spent for a concert, which severely hurts the chance of bringing in a better artist. I wouldn't doubt that they'd try and influence UB's selection in order to get better attendance and prove the money is well spent without giving UB a choice.

Furthermore, the administration would not allow a fee increase for these organizations. So UB and SGA are inhibited by the administration by how much they can spend and then not allowed whatsoever to increase fees and have more money to bring in better artists or whatever SGA does. The budgets have stayed the same for 20+ years now (probably much longer). So while prices go up for everything, the choice of artists for concerts will only get worse as the budgets continue to stay the same.

People were saying the same thing 50 years ago. Not sure most people even know what they do, but the SGA is not a joke. The SGA is elected. The SGA serves a purpose by giving Tech students a voice in how the school is managed campus wide. For example, the SGA has a representative sitting on many campus boards, e.g., the Tech Athletic Council, who hires Head Football coaches, etc.... I'm disappointed to see The Historian's post immediately above this one, because it sounds like the SGA's power has been diminished over the years. The SGA used to be involved in many decisions involving the students.

SGA has representation on the following councils:

Student Advisory Council
Food Service Committee
Administrative Council
Student Organizations Committee
Athletic Council
Technology Fee Committee
Parking and Traffic Committee
Student Activities Committee
Instructional Policies Committee
Honor CouncilGraduate Council
University Fee Committee
Library Advisory Committee
Student Organizations Grant Committee
Behavioral Standards Committee

So the SGA president or whoever represents SGA can influence these councils if they have the willpower. The only committee the SGA president is explicitly mentioned to be a part of is the Student Organizations Committee which handles disciplinary decisions for students and organizations. That includes the UB president and presidents of the inter-greek organizations as well for student representation.

[sportdawg]

Also, the administration wouldn't let ub have a concert with any non Christian bands at the time. Churches out numbered the students. Plus ULM was getting big names like third eye blind, Iggy azalea and a few more big names that I can't think of. So yea the ub members and school administration made it easy to take shots at ub

My senior year (aka 5th year) we had 3 Doors Down and Nickleback at the Tonk. This was before Nickleback was known and a joke.

[Tech52]

The SGA is elected.

What does it matter that a few people get their friends to vote for them if the rest of the student body is indifferent? It doesnt represent the students, just the cliques that bothered to vote their friend in.

[techman05]

I never once knew anyone who was in SGA. I didn’t know much about anything on campus. I went to class, went to lunch, went to work, and attended ballgames. I lived in town so didn’t spend any time on campus really.

[Dawgonit]

What does it matter that a few people get their friends to vote for them if the rest of the student body is indifferent? It doesnt represent the students, just the cliques that bothered to vote their friend in.

I never once knew anyone who was in SGA. I didn’t know much about anything on campus. I went to class, went to lunch, went to work, and attended ballgames. I lived in town so didn’t spend any time on campus really.

Both of these are good examples of how most of the student body is apathetic towards SGA. How to fix it? Not too certain but I would bet that most students feel the SGA does nothing of importance for them that warrants the time and effort to vote for representatives and know who they are. So SGA would need to be able to make decisions that seriously affect students in order for students to care.

[HogDawg]

What does it matter that a few people get their friends to vote for them if the rest of the student body is indifferent? It doesn't represent the students, just the cliques that bothered to vote their friend in.

....Someone sounds bitter. That's a petty complaint. I'm just not interested i that nonsense. You're ordinarily a good poster. I expected more.

[HogDawg]

Both of these are good examples of how most of the student body is apathetic towards SGA. How to fix it? Not too certain but I would bet that most students feel the SGA does nothing of importance for them that warrants the time and effort to vote for representatives and know who they are. So SGA would need to be able to make decisions that seriously affect students in order for students to care.

They do. But apparently all these "students" who never bothered getting involved in campus clubs and events, and especially those who "lived in town so didn’t spend any time on campus really", missed out. Imagine that.

As my beloved grandmother used to say, "You boys would complain about receiving too much ice cream".

[HogDawg]

Both of these are good examples of how most of the student body is apathetic towards SGA. How to fix it? Not too certain but I would bet that most students feel the SGA does nothing of importance for them that warrants the time and effort to vote for representatives and know who they are. So SGA would need to be able to make decisions that seriously affect students in order for students to care.

[techman05]

Believe me, my school involvement had little to do with want as much as time. I worked 35-40 hours Monday-Saturday and went to church on Sunday. If the rest of my time wasn’t in class or studying for class, I would have bombed out. I wasn’t built for college and had to fight for every C I got with no extra curricular to speak of.

[Dawgonit]

They do. But apparently all these "students" who never bothered getting involved in campus clubs and events, and especially those who "lived in town so didn’t spend any time on campus really", missed out. Imagine that.

As for the question if they do or not, I think we'll disagree. I think we could agree though then that there is an extremely poor job of promoting SGA to students. SGA's fault? Administration's?

Believe me, my school involvement had little to do with want as much as time. I worked 35-40 hours Monday-Saturday and went to church on Sunday. If the rest of my time wasn’t in class or studying for class, I would have bombed out. I wasn’t built for college and had to fight for every C I got with no extra curricular to speak of.

Not discounting your schedule or lack of available time for participating in clubs and campus activities, but voting in an SGA election and knowing your representatives would require just a quick visit to the SGA website or quick visit to the back of Tolliver while getting lunch. That's not difficult for students to do even with a busy schedule. But if you look at voter turnout, I would bet it's extremely low. I would bet the number of students who know their representative is even worse. The question is, why?

[techman05]

[QUOTE=Dawgonit;181376



Not discounting your schedule or lack of available time for participating in clubs and campus activities, but voting in an SGA election and knowing your representatives would require just a quick visit to the SGA website or quick visit to the back of Tolliver while getting lunch. That's not difficult for students to do even with a busy schedule. But if you look at voter turnout, I would bet it's extremely low. I would bet the number of students who know their representative is even worse. The question is, why?[/QUOTE]

I won’t disagree with that. I could have made time if I it was made clear that it was important. I am very active now in paying attention to my representation in government. I probably would have been back then, but wasn’t paying attention or it wasn’t publicized well. I don’t know which.

[Tech52]

....Someone sounds bitter. That's a petty complaint. I'm just not interested i that nonsense. You're ordinarily a good poster. I expected more.

I just dont see it as a good representation of the student body.

[PawDawg]

I just dont see it as a good representation of the student body.

That’s on those who choose not to participate. It’s normal at commuter schools and even though we have lots of housing, our students go home on the weekends instead of supporting athletics. Been that way since the 70s

[stodgdog]

My senior year (aka 5th year) we had 3 Doors Down and Nickleback at the Tonk. This was before Nickleback was known and a joke.

We had Savoy Brown, Lynrd Skyrnd, Jimmy Buffett, and many others,

[Amos Moses]

Going WAY back, we had Ray Charles, The Box Tops, Fifth Dimension, Brenda Lee, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, Sam & Dave, Jay and the Americans, and many more......in the '60's.