It’s time to vote for SGA
Deck
COMMENTARY
By Sebastian Moleski
He is a sophomore international economics major from Berlin, Germany.

I’m a part of TCU’s student government. I’ve been with Programming Council and the House of Student Representatives for more than a year now. Student government sucks.

He’s an idiot, you might say. After all, if it sucks so much, why does he stay in it? Well, you see, what sucks about student government is not really the organization itself. It’s the kind of job we do. Every year, about a hundred people get together trying to figure out what other students want and how to make that happen. Both of these are hard, time consuming and sometimes hopeless.

Here’s an example: parking. Virtually everybody hates parking at TCU. Virtually everybody complains about it. In a recent survey of TCU student opinion, about 80 percent of the complaints were about parking. So, all right, parking sucks. But what are we going to do about it? Parking garages are expensive. Buses aren’t really an alternative (too many). When you build fancy academic buildings, you might be able to win over some donors. But who wants his name attached to a parking garage? Student government has been brainstorming for years for ideas to solve the parking issue in a somewhat feasible manner. Now it looks like the university administration is tackling the problem head-on with the planned parking/shopping/apartment complex around Perrotti’s Pizza at Berry Street.

But student government sucks for another reason too. You see, there’s two somewhat distinct parts to SGA: the House and Programming Council. The House deals (or tries to, at least) with parking and other issues. The job of Programming Council is to somehow mix education and entertainment and produce events students want to go to. The only problem: We don’t know what you want. Sure, there’s the same stuff we do every year. Howdy Week. Family Weekend. Homecoming. But beyond that, what should we do?

Every spring, we ask you about the kind of events you want, and then we try to create something that works. The “Dating Game” in February worked out well. Some other things, not so well.

What you can do? Go vote. Seriously, it’s that easy. And this year, you get an extra treat. Not only do you get to decide who’s trying to solve your problems with TCU, but you also get to choose what bands we should have here. Some names on the ballot might be familiar: Michelle Branch, Maroon 5 or The Counting Crows. Some others might not. But regardless, tell us what you want. It’s really that easy.

Oh yeah, where to vote? It’s all online: vote.tcu.edu. Four years ago, the Goo Goo Dolls performed in the coliseum. This spring, if you let us know, maybe Jason Mraz will come to TCU.

So go vote Nov. 11. Choose your next officers. And choose the next bands that will play. We want to know.