We’ve trivialized the role of student leadership on the campus. The current SGA got elected by promising students a crab festival and now, one of the prospective candidates wants to play Extreme Makeover: Student Union Edition. With such silly issues in the public discourse it’s hard to see past the campaign slogans scrawled in sidewalk chalk to find examples of meaningful student leadership.

Let’s go back to 1972. Violence in College Park was at unprecedented levels and students had to rely on their own cars or walking to get across the campus; no other alternatives existed. Members of the Black Student Union purchased two vans and provided nightly security routes to transport students, running the entire operation out of a closet in Leonardtown. Before the decade is out, the service included two dozen vehicles servicing 10 routes.

This is humbling. Shuttle-UM, which currently transports 1.4 million passengers every year, started as the idea of student advocates who had the practical ability to get engines running.

If the BSU could bootstrap what is now the most ubiquitous campus service, it is amazing to think of what the Student Government Association could do as an elected body whose sole purpose is to understand the needs of students and appropriate a seven-figure budget fed by their activities fees.

Instead of trying for a new paint job in the student union, student leaders should recognize that their responsibility is to be on respectful but antagonistic terms with school administrators. Bureaucratic officials are selected for their ability to grow and maintain the size of a department’s budget. This hurts us.

Just look at what can $75 get you on the campus. It could pay for a single parking ticket since Transportation Services jacked up ticket rates last year. Or, if you were on the splendid All-Campus Meal Plan, it could get you a single pizza at Sbarro in the Union (which would cost $18.75 if you paid in cash). These grotesque policies prop up department budgets at the students expense. We need tactful leaders who can stand up to university officials and see through their empty rhetoric of maintaining base costs if we truly want to improve student life.

Off-campus, SGA leaders might want to consider even losing the semblance of respect. In this current crisis, for example, the SGA should be horribly paranoid toward the city government. The on-campus housing crisis is flushing our student body into the town right as local officials are scheming to keep them out. The entire Prince George’s County delegation to the state house supports a bill restricting large-scale student housing development to a tiny portion of College Park. College Park Mayor Steve Brayman was quoted saying expanding the area available for development anywhere east of Baltimore Avenue would “be viewed as an act of war.”

Vigilance could have made this a landmark year in gaining influence in the city. In Nick Aragón and David Daddio, we had two passionate and competent attempts at city council, only to have the election date fall during winter break when most students were away from the campus and didn’t vote. With enough foresight and action, the election date could have been changed, but complacency cost students a voice on the city council.

Sadly, campus elections tend to push into office those who pander to the most inconsequential needs of students during the campaign season. These people continue the proud tradition in their administrative roles and students ultimately lose.

We can’t let this farce continue. In today’s elections we need to elect candidates who shy away from saccharin campaign promises and instead have realistic ideas to help the students of College Park. If we don’t fight for our interests, no one will.

Benjamin Johnson is a senior physics major. He can be reached at katsuo@umd.edu.