With Student Government Association elections now underway, this university certainly has a lot to look forward to in the upcoming week. McKeldin Mall sidewalks will be covered with ridiculous slogans chalked every four inches. Candidates, who will soon be smelly from not laundering their party T-shirts, will be distributing pens and other knickknacks to passing students. And for those of you lucky enough to live on the campus, “dorm storming” — a campaigning tactic where SGA candidates sneak into dorms in order to talk to students — will become an almost daily annoyance.

But beneath all the pomp and pageantry, I’m curious: Why would someone want to be in the SGA?   

For an organization with so much promise, it’s disheartening to see how inept the SGA is at this university. Despite its numerous electronic newsletters and guest columns, it often fails to articulate to the student body why we should care about what they do. While some in the SGA think it’s just a communications problem — fueled by a long-standing bias against their organization — student complaints about the SGA are legitimate and aren’t being addressed.   

We wonder why the SGA — the supposed representatives of our undergraduate student body — actively supported the Annapolis lawmakers who advocated for a tuition increase. We question why an SGA committee didn’t think the motion supporting the state’s same-sex marriage bill was relevant to our student body. We ponder why the SGA felt it was necessary to support the revocation of Thirsty Turtle’s liquor license, even going so far as to testify in front of the Prince George’s County Liquor Board. And of course, we are beyond puzzled as to why SGA President Steve Glickman cannot stop lying about both his personal and organizational involvement in the Duke-ticket debacle.   

But let’s be honest, these questions and others like them are just symptoms of a much larger problem plaguing what could be, and at one point probably was, the most influential student-run organization on this campus.

The SGA isn’t ineffective because of apathy, a lack of effort or even The Diamondback. The problem lies instead with its elected officials. They are too busy being politicians instead of problem solvers for their constituents. On numerous issues — from same-sex marriage to the DREAM Act — students at this university had to rise up in significant numbers to overturn obviously boneheaded committee decisions.   

As someone who cares deeply about the future of this university, it saddens me that the organization making an impact on university policy isn’t the SGA, but rather the University Senate. Because, while the senate does a fine job advising university President Wallace Loh, the power of the student voice is greatly diminished because of the sobering fact that we only control one-fifth of the voting seats.

Despite this, there is certainly room for more than one voice to affect policy on this campus, and the SGA could — and should — fill that space. When the College Park City Council debates issues relevant to students, the SGA consistently fails to turn out students in significant numbers to make our voices heard. Instead, it seems that the only interaction the SGA has with our city government is  a city council liaison.

Instead of having students pretending they’re members of Congress, the SGA should be an incubator of student activism, and not just a reactionary legislative body that has no binding authority on any issue besides student group funding. The organization should be bringing together the Residence Hall Association, undergraduate university senators and campus activists to speak with one powerful voice to the bodies that affect our lives: the university administration, the city council, and the state legislature.

In the next eight days, promises will be made, pens will be handed out and votes will be cast. Yet, after the polls close and the winners are announced, it is all too likely that all this university will have is a new iteration of the same irrelevant organization. But for all our sakes, let’s hope I’m wrong.

Matt Arnstine is a sophomore journalism major. He can be reached at arnstine at umdbk dot com.