GUSA Victories Pale Next to European Equivalent
Every morning, I awake when the sunlight hits my clown-sized hairy hobbit feet and alerts me to the fact that it is time for another day here in dreary England. London is a foggy, rainy, cold metropolis that serves British cuisine; it leaves a lot to be desired. Yet, everyday I walk across Waterloo Bridge and over the Thames River and think about how happy I am to be here. My next thought is always of the Hilltop, and I wonder what is happening back at Georgetown at that very instant. This is usually around 9 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time, and due to the five-hour time difference I usually guess that anyone awake at that hour is very stressfully working, throwing up or possibly even throwing up due to working so stressfully.
This morning, as I was ambling across the bridge, I realized that one year ago at that exact time, four o’clock in the morning D.C. time, I had been doing something at Georgetown that did not involve studying, schoolwork or vomiting; I had been enthusiastically participating in our school’s democratic process by attempting to tape a 10-foot square banner for a GUSA campaign onto one of the sides of Red Square’s walls. Yet, one year later, I couldn’t be happier to be so far away from school so that nobody could come and knock on my door and explain to me how they were going to fix all of the university’s problems and why I needed to vote for them for the student association.
Later in the day, while I was sitting in the King’s College Student Union pub, drinking a Guinness and reading THE HOYA online via the bar’s wireless connection, I read THE HOYA editorial board’s article “With GUSA, Everybody Loses,” (www.thehoya.com, Feb. 19, 2008) as well as people’s reactions to it on the site. Both were quite heated. The editorial and people’s opinions certainly didn’t clarify or sway me to either side of this strange inner paradox I was experiencing; if anything, I felt more conflicted than ever.
The criticism of GUSA is anything but unique. Just as GUSA might be the same as student governments across the country: weak, ineffectual and promising things it can’t and won’t ever do; those who criticize it are guilty as well of using the same old tired criticisms — the type that people make about every type of government. Even at the national level, where lawmakers actually have the power to enact laws that have a strong impact on our lives — and do not have to balance this with philosophy homework — many people still write off the democratic process as being a waste of time. They deride all politicians as being equally hack-ish, dishonest, partisan and self-interested and all governments as unchanging, unhelpful and unresponsive to their peoples’ needs.
Having participated in student elections in high school and having campaigned for GUSA candidates, I must say there is nothing more frustrating than talking to apathetic voters, those who write off the entire democratic governmental system as a failed institution, or those who think that political change is not only impossible, but that even attempting to bring about change is laughable.
On the other hand, having been a student at Georgetown for two and a half years I must say that I have been totally underwhelmed with GUSA. But perhaps — to a certain extent — maybe our frustration is due to the fact that even if GUSA officials try hard, they can’t do as much as we want because they don’t have enough power. One of the reasons they don’t have that power is because they don’t have our strong support. They don’t have our support because they so rarely produce results that everyday Hoyas notice. Thus it is a continual cycle of increasing frustration on both sides.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Here at King’s College and in many colleges in America, strong student governments that accomplish significant goals for their peer constituents are not a fairytale; they exist, they’re powerful and they’re really cool.
To get an idea of what a student government can accomplish with proper support, funding and power, examine the KCL Student Union. The organization operates an enormous pub called the Waterfront, a nightclub named after Desmond Tutu (a King’s alum, though still a somewhat ironic thing to name after him if you ask me), as well as another bar across town and another nightclub. All these locations are hubs of activity for students, offer subsidized drinks and are much cheaper than going to London nightclubs. People don’t just drink and party there, but they study, eat breakfast, hang out with their professors and shoot games of pool with their TAs. On Wednesdays the entire school gets out early to watch and participate in school sports games, and afterwards hundreds of people go hang out in these nerve centers of student life.
Beyond nightlife, the KCLSU is also involved in the everyday lives of students in a number of other different ways. They operate coffee places as well as help fund and organize clubs, publications and sports teams. In every single course in the entire school there is a representative of the student union who serves as a liaison between students and teachers. Should there be any problems or complaints, the student union gets involved and helps resolve them. They organize massive volunteer projects, raise money for charities and even have a cheap and wonderful student gym.
Let’s not kid ourselves: The United Kingdom, Europe and the rest of the world’s universities are in many ways drastically different from American private institutions. However, it’s important to remember that students can organize effective organizations and enact visible meaningful change that assists their fellow students. I think everyone would agree that GUSA needs more power to give the students at our school greater support and representation. We should not be perpetuating the culture of apathy towards GUSA — that doesn’t fix anything except our doubts that nothing will get done. The true way to change GUSA would be if, for the first time, students actually started caring and started supporting their student leaders. If this occurred, the leaders themselves, the caliber of our student representatives, and their ability to actually accomplish something would fix this problem. Saying a broken pot can’t be fixed doesn’t fix it; saying it can and actually doing something about it will. The pot’s not broken for good Georgetown; let’s make some Earl Blue Grey.
Nick Greenough is a junior in the School of Foreign Service and a former opinion editor of THE HOYA. He can be reached at greenough@thehoya.com. He is currently attending King’s College in London, England. NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND appears every other Friday.
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Haha I think the title of this piece and its actual point differ perhaps exposing the Hoya's bias again.
It seems like Greenough is talking about the need to lay aside apathy and that student union can actually achieve something.
I think that phrase is interesting. Student 'union'. Petty organizations like the Hoya (and to some probably GUSA and even the leadership of the Corp or any of the major clubs), all they cause is 'disunion.' Greenough's point is that union is what is needed, and for that we need the various organizations on campus and the various constituencies on campus to stop beating up on each other and actually act with some unity. Rather than accusing each other of not doing anything, which the Hoya does on a weekly basis, maybe channel that energy into something constructve, is Greenough's point if I'm not overreading.
Nah, this is Georgetown. Let's face it we're too political and argumentative to work together. Every organization's leader thinks his organization is the most important or the only important one on campus. Come on editorial board of the Hoya, you can admit it.
Someone once told me that Georgetown is the most feudal place left in the world. Maybe that's why our student organizations still act like they're in the dark ages and beat each others' brains out with maces made of oratory rather than working together to bring prosperity and maybe build some civilization on the banks of the Potomac. To carry the metaphor further and expose myself as an ex-English major, maybe then we could figure out how to disinfect against the 'plague' of apathy.
Ah well despite all that it's still a heck of a place to spend a couple years and I'd highly recommend it to the prospective students who are probably reading this and thinking 'ew Georgetown students are so bitter.' We're not all like that, just the ones who didn't spend enough time at the Tombs (our college bar).
Careful reader, your comments are well taken and certainly deserve some thought. However, I find after reading them that I must comment on a few things.
I find it odd that you presume all major clubs at Georgetown and their leaders foster nothing but disunion on campus. I have seen countless occasions where the exact opposite was happening - the top student groups were working together to make Georgetown a better place. Having friends at the top of virtually all of the major organizations you listed, I find it odd that you would say that their commentary is that their personal organization is the only important one. In my experience, although the leaders of any organization certainly have a bias towards the one closest to their heart, they do realize that other students in other arenas are doing some great things for campus.
I have no problems with The Hoya or its staff, but in my opinion, these "arguments" between major clubs is really just an argument between The Hoya and many clubs. I do find it unfortunate this year that The Hoya ed-board has often taken the mentality of being as caustic as possible towards other student groups instead of a more level-headed, realistic approach. Call GUSA a "side-splitting joke" certainly does not show level-headedness. However, to attribute this attitude to ALL campus leaders vis-a-vis ALL other campus leaders is unwarranted.
Georgetown is not feudal. Rather than having major, on-campus greek life, the social organization of students is funneled through student organizations. This is the opposite of feudal. Rather than having a bunch of crazed-drunken, party-till-your puke students, we have a bunch of (still often crazed-drunken, but...)students who are using their energy towards helping other students. That goes for the Credit Union, the Corp, GUSA, The Hoya, the political organizations, and so on. This is a powerful and important aspect of Georgetown, giving students unique knowledge of how to work with others in a semi-professional setting that will aid them when they leave the Hilltop. It also is an odd take on "Men and Women for others" - students work here to do great things for other students (how ever I believe this message could be taken in a more D.C. wide community service manner). Georgetown should be proud that we are organized like we - it is what makes Georgetown great and unique.
Alas, this post is more than long enough, so I will leave with this. Your perception of the "bitterness" of Georgetown student leaders is a little difficult to understand when I walk into Tombs and see those same student leaders you speak of sharing a pitcher of good 'ol Busch Light. Student life on the Hilltop is not in dire straits.
Anon,
You're right that personally there is much love between those different people. I likewise had friends at the top of every one of those clubs just recently (just graduated) so I have seen it firsthand as well. Believe me 'feudal' is exactly the right way to describe it even though many of them hang out at the Tombs. Have you ever listened to the College Dems talk about SAC or Lect Fund? You've recently read the Hoya talking about GUSA. Have you heard what they've said about the Voice? Have you ever heard the Corp's leaders talk about - well - anybody else? Didn't you know that the Corp is the most/the only important thing on campus?
And you're right that they share drinks at the Tombs. But they also constantly deride each others' organizations. Sometimes these leaders are roommates but that doesn't stop them not working together. The two aren't mutually exclusive. The bitterness is between people in their official capacities and not so much their personal ones. In my experience it takes untold amounts of effort to coax an admission out of any campus leader that any other major group makes a serious contribution to campus life. That's what I meant about disunion. Disunion of clubs and organizations that could do a lot more if they worked together. Disunion between the Corp, the Hoya, SAC, GUSA and the rest. And yes I do believe that feudal is the only way to describe it.
Your points are likewise well taken and have a lot of validity to them so thanks for urging me to clarify my comments. I don't think there's much of a difference between what the two of us are saying.
Nick,
As other readers have pointed out, "Student Unions" in the UK and student governments in the US are two different entities entirely.
Student unions in the UK are mandated and protected by law (Education Act of 1994) and are independently-chartered bodies according to law. The KCL Union is the oldest in England -- imagine if GUSA didn't only have its office in the Leavey Center, but OWNED the Leavey Center, and you see my point. The KCL Student Union, like most others, is an amalgamation of all groups on campus (hence the term 'union') -- so, yes, if you wanted to combine GUSA, the Corp, the Hoya, the Credit Union, Club Sports, SAC, LGTBQ... etc. into one, voila -- The Georgetown Student Union!
That having been said, I'd be all in if GUSA ran a bar in Healy basement!
Nick:
UCL rules! KCL drools!
That is all ;)
Good discussion, but I think you all need a historical perspective of Georgetown's unique situation. I hate to do this to you, but here's a link to the Voice, which covered this way better than The Hoya did - rare but it happens.
http://www.georgetownvoice.com/2001-03-01/feature/the-never-ending-refor...
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