Now that the creation of the Campus Activities Board has unburdened the Associated Student Federation from the responsibility of organizing campus events, the Forum has a daunting challenge set before it: proving itself useful.
That’s right, rubber stamping new clubs and placating the student body with sophomoric homecomings and cosmic drinking can no longer be the bread and butter of Forum members who campaigned merely for the office space.
No, now our comrades in the Student Center will have to leave their cushy lair and actually challenge the administration on issues that affect the student body.
The Forum needs to make haste in moving away from its recent role of administrative lackey and take up the mantle of its intended purpose. Being an advocate for the needs and desires of the student body.
First things first, ASF needs to ensure that every committee seat that is afforded to the student body is filled at every committee meeting. No exceptions.
In the past ASF has ignored this responsibility.
The Forum also needs to fight the administration more vigorously on tuition and fee hikes. It is their duty to ensure that necessary tuition hikes are minimal and that fees openly benefit the student body, especially lab fees, which should find their way directly to the classroom.
It is time to get serious about the parking situation. We need to find some sort of solution. And isn’t it time that someone stands up and demands that better food be served on campus?
We can only handle so much fried food, old vegetables or stale pizza before someone says something.
Taking on these tasks should not be difficult. It merely requires that Forum members take on a watchdog role. The good students of the University of La Verne didn’t elect ASF members to their posts just so that they would have an excuse to wear business casual and the occasional tie or silk blouse. They have a job to do.
We the students need our government to take a stand for us and assure us that our voices will be heard and our needs met.
Surely nobody expects that ASF will win every battle, but showing a concerted effort to bring student needs to the forefront of University policy making should be the prime concern of each and every Forum member.
And part of this concerted effort must be an ability to use the campus media as a means of rallying students to the cause. KULV, LVTV-3 and the Campus Times exist as a means for the Forum to get its message to the students of La Verne.
ASF needs to learn to use the media in its favor by staging protests, rallies and speeches when student interests aren’t being put first. They should deliver addresses about the state of the student body and distribute ASF meeting agendas to media outlets so students will know whether or not the issues of that meeting are important to them.
Never should the student body be blamed for their apathy toward the Forum and its meetings. An apathetic student body is the result of poor leadership. Get controversial, make a difference and let it be known that, if nothing else, ASF will be fighting for the student body and its interests.
Forum members need to earn their right to put student government on their résumés. Carpe diem.
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.