This year, the United Student Association (USA) was supposed to bring fresh energy and leadership to campus. With a young executive board, an active advisor and a greater potential for membership than ever before, many Griffs – mostly the over-involved ones – were hopeful. But as the semester has unfolded, USA has become increasingly stagnant, with empty seats and lackluster participation in senate meetings.
The signs of stagnation are clear: barely enough senators, minimal student engagement and a general lack of enthusiasm from the student body. Despite holding events and meetings, the organization has failed to meaningfully connect with the campus community or to advocate effectively on behalf of students. Instead of tackling critical issues like the preservation of library resources, USA’s meetings often devolve into discussions about vending machine snack options, or updates on email chains with event collaborators. While these details matter, they divert attention from the real challenges students face this semester.
We are aware of the rocky waters USA has had to navigate the past few months – rocky waters that The Griffin has covered and opined about excessively. We’ve also – in excess – ended those editorials by calling on students to confront, rather than complain about the issues that concern them; but as our senate scribes note, we can’t even deliver on complaining. Week after week, they type, “General student concerns: None.” We know this isn’t true, and raises a concern in itself: Why aren’t students coming to their appointed peer leaders?
While it's easy to blame students for not being involved, and indeed they deserve quite a bit of the blame, the onus isn’t entirely on them. USA’s visibility on campus is low. Students don’t know what USA does, and there aren't enough students active in USA to accomplish what the organization is supposed to be doing. Engagement being down creates a vicious cycle: Less students in an organization leads to less of an opportunity to plan events and less of an ability to have a presence on campus, which leads to students being less aware that the organization exists, let alone what that organization does or that they can join it. It’s sad to say, but we’re watching this happen to USA. Without effective communication or an established presence, it’s no surprise that students aren't flocking to meetings.
It’s unfair to call USA completely inactive. They’ve held their events, done their outreach, hosted their guest speakers and always kept their meetings open to students; but that is in fact the bare minimum. So, what do you do when just meeting the requirements of your role isn’t quite enough to solve the problem? No, seriously, we’re still wondering.
In times of campus-wide challenges like faculty strikes, budget cuts and concerns over campus resources, a strong and proactive student government is essential. USA has the potential to amplify student voices and push for meaningful change. However, by focusing on mundane details, USA is missing the opportunity to represent the student body in the way it was designed to. Perhaps if they had the graduate student senators that were promised this semester, those students could have provided a bit more wisdom to our very young USA, who we fear may not yet know that in times of need, menial things – such as mandated senator projects – should not take priority over adapting their action to those needs.
If USA is to fulfill its role, it must first rediscover its purpose: to act as an advocate and voice for all students. We, the students, must also take responsibility for making our concerns known and engaging with the organization. USA needs renewed focus and a clearer understanding of its power to make change. Without that, we risk watching this vital student body fade into irrelevance.
Talking to people throughout campus, and even some of our friends who go to other schools, for whatever reason it seems as though this Fall 2024 semester in particular has been draining on all of us. Undoubtedly the members of USA, as some of the most involved students at the school, are feeling that as well, and we sympathize with that. We hope that as the calendar flips into 2025, we as a student body, in conjunction with our student government, can be rejuvenated to make student voices heard as we begin a very important semester for the fate of Canisius.
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