The first SGA Issues Forum was held in the Heth Student Center last
week. The forum was an attempt by the SGA to allow students to openly
discuss and address any topic related to Radford University.
Representatives on the panel included: Panhellenic Council, Residence
Halls Association, Graduate Student Council, Campus Activities Board,
Off-Campus Student Council, Whim, ROC-TV, Tartan, and of course, the Student Government Association.
The intention of the forum was to discuss issues related to anything on
campus. Initially, this worked. A student, among the audience of about
30, simply said that he wanted to have a bench in front of Muse Hall. He
said he was sick of sitting on the steps and getting trampled.
Another student, George Mendiola, wanted to address an issue about the
police on campus. It seems, according to Mendiola's research, that RU
police and the Radford City Police are in violation of the 14th amendment
of our Constitution. "In particular, they are targeting males and students
for arrests...and that is unfair," Mendiola said. A member of the panel
told Mendiola that she would address that issue in one of her
organizational meetings.
The remainder of the night turned into a semi-mediated war between students
and SGA. The first shot was fired by Michael Ginsburg, as he read a
written statement addressing his disgust with not only the methods in which
current SGA president, Chris Mannix, was elected, but how poorly SGA dealt
with the investigation process. Ginsburg said that he was angered at a
lack of effort to find the truth, and how "hush-hush" the SGA became when
inquisitions began about the validity of Mannix's election.
As the night went on, many more comments were made regarding Mannix's previous actions. It
became much like a firing squad. SGA's original intention for this forum
was to hold Mannix from speaking and to get a dialog from the RU students.
That lasted about an hour. After hearing the fourth individual accusation
of one violation or another, Mannix spoke.
The point of this forum is to give you and I the chance to make our voices
heard. Look for flyers this December and throughout next semester for
upcoming SGA Issues Forums. I highly recommend attending if you have a
concern to raise. (If for nothing else, come get free food and watch the
sparks fly!)
What do you think? Leave your feedback below.
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Name:G.L. Pulliam Major: Counseling Psych Comments:
I'm glad to see this forum in effect. I think they should be allowed to voice their opinion on any issue relevant to RU. I hope it will involve more of the students in campus life.
As for the police, if you don't want them to bother you...don't break the law.
As for the SGA election...the race is over. Let's concentrate on what we can do for RU together, not argue amongest ourselves. Let's put the good of the student body as a whole above our individual egos. There's no telling what you can do if you put as much energy into working together instead of against each other.
Name:Brian Major: Advertising Comments:
Although the SGA Issues Forum was open for any topic from any person, I don't think it should be limited in the future to one particluar topic. This was set up as a forum, and like Whim, when you set up a forum, you need to expect to hear the good and the bad. With the SGA providing an open microphone to anyone with a concern, they should not cut the power (or be surprised for that matter) if the students' concerns are of the very institution sponsoring the event. If they've got a bitch with the SGA, and the SGA encourages feedback...shouldn't it make sense that SGA hear about it? I think the forum went quite well. It is much to my disappointment that I could not stay for the duration. I move that we make these open forums exactly that-- OPEN.
'Course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
Name: sneaky Comments:
i think it was very naive of the sga to think students wouldn't start attacking them at an open forum. they're slackers and students have serious problems with the way they've been handling things this semester.
Name:George Major: Criminal Justice Comments:
Just wanted to add that I wanted to address the concerns of the selective prosecution by Radford City police and not with RU police. There really isn't anything you can do about RU police since it is there job to target college students.
