Two weeks ago, we were proud to announce the elections of Any King as President and Ellie Crean as Vice-President. The elections held by the previous administration were a remarkable success and deserve commendation. We hope that these candidates use the momentum garnered by the elections to attend to two matters that are currently impeding LUCC.
The first concern we have in regards to LUCC is the sizeable presence of non-elected representatives — members of LUCC who are not elected but simply sign up — on committees.
The nature of LUCC governing systems places considerable stress on individual committees at the expense of the general counsel. Most matters brought to the attention of LUCC enter into committees — where courses of appropriate actions are decided — and then are presented, with committee’s decisions, to the General Counsel where the committee’s suggestions are voted upon. This is logical since it makes for a more efficient governing process.
We are troubled by the fact that an organization that is supposed to represent the students relies on non-elected members to be present in a significant amount of their operations. We would like to see a decrease of these non-elected members, if not a complete absence.
LUCC should consider facing this particular problem either by increasing the responsibilities of already elected representatives by obliging them to join more committees or by increasing the number of elected LUCC representatives so there are an adequate amount so committees do not have to accept non-elected members into their ranks.
While we favor the latter idea, we hope LUCC considers the merits of both these recommendations for what is a very real problem.
Public engagement is another area where LUCC could increase its activity. The majority of students are unaware of what specific activities and topics LUCC is dealing with at any given time. While the blame for this problem does not lie solely with LUCC, we believe that it is their responsibility to provide the initiative in addressing this.
After the successful elections, LUCC should aim to find new ways to keep the student body informed on the issues they are addressing as well as what they plan to do about these issues. We understand that LUCC supplies their minutes to anyone who asks, but this is not enough.
Steady updating of the minutes page on their website and public posting of the minutes in highly visible locations as well as occasional tabling in “Downer” where students could directly interact with LUCC representatives are three sensible ways of tackling this dilemma. Input from constituents is key to any representative government, which is why this seemingly small matter is of such importance.
We believe that these two suggestions will facilitate LUCC’s continued pursuit of accountability and efficiency, and we strongly encourage President-elect King and Vice President-elect Crean, as well as all the members of LUCC, to heed them.
LUCC Staff Ed – jbs -GP eek
