Upon closer inspection, the member turned out to be a prominent member of the MSU's Maroons and apparently a former housemate of two SRA councilmen. I understand where he might be coming from, but it makes me wonder just how misinformed people are as to the performance of their political bodies.
First of all, every political body everywhere needs outsiders overseeing their development and progress. It's the nature of the beast. What I am trying to do is provide some of this accountability so that the SRA has some indication of how they appear in a regular student's eyes. Mr. Gandhi, I do not believe in the SRA policing themselves as council members have frequently neglected their entire portfolios in the past.
However, the SRA can be commended on improving. I would like to offer suggestions as to how they could be better:
- The SRA apparently submits a plan for their tenure to outline what projects they plan to invest time in, including specifics as to the logistics. Nobody has released these to their constituents and I think this would be a fantastic and open way for the constituents to understand what their members plan on doing in the year.
- The SRA's office hours do not solicit anything. If you walk by their office (right next to SHEC) you can usually see a group of them inside with the door closed, or one of them sleeping on the couch, or in rare occasions: the door open with someone deeply engrossed in their own school work. None of this makes me want to go talk to them.
- Take all the criticism you can get and act on it. I would MUCH rather vote for someone who I thought was doing a shit job, talked to me about it, and then made amends than I would someone who did a decent job and didn't listen to me.
Hey MSU Pundit,
ReplyDeleteI just thought I should reply to some of your concerns.
#1 Regarding year plans. I am aware that YearPlans for individual SRA members as well as Commissioners and Execs are public. However they haven't been published and promoted before. If you creep around the MSU website you can find them. However upon your request I will put up on MacInsiders(along with a couple of other members who have the same view upon seeing your blog) my yearplan as a newly elected SRA member(it is officially due tommorow).
#2 SRA Office. As someone who spends way more then the officially required 2 hours in the office. I can honestly say that myself and any other SRA member would absolutely love it if one of our constituents were to drop by with any issue we can talk about. Before judging us you should atleast make an effort to come in and see how we react.
The Closed Door is usually when one of the 6 committees might be meeting(you are more then welcome to drop by; their timings are supposed to be up on the MSU website or can be enquired from the Commissioner, since some committes change them around) or when SRA members feel as if they want to discuss something within themselves and there is too much noise from the people hanging out in the sofas nearby. You must realize as well that we are students and human beings just like you and as such we cannot be expected to be wearing a three piece with our leather notebook infront of us waiting for people to visit us like a MP :P
We are volunteering extra hours from our regular schedule to go to that office. However I assure you that with the cast of people SRA usually attracts there is frequent political discussion in there!
#3 If you have any further concerns please be free to share them!
Regards,
Huzaifa Saeed
SRA Social Science 09/10