Thanks to everyone who participated in last night’s #SGAChat on Interaction between Student Government & School Administration. This week’s chat generated 89 tweets about the complex relationship between SGA and administration. In case you missed the conversation, here’s the transcript.

Here are this week’s top #SGAChat contributors:

@DanMcDs
@arjayquizon
@MichaelSCashman
@anschwartz
@cindykane
@donnyjenkins
@carolyngolz
@cOREyGON

Thanks for all the great conversations! Join us for next Wednesday’s #SGAChat.

First off, because it relates in so many ways to what I am about to go into, I would like to congratulate @mcclusk, a friend and Massachusetts Students Uniting alumna,  in winning her bid for USSA President. Which leads me into the part that is relevant to SGA’s themselves.

Chances are, you have some part of SGA that you absolutely love- drafting legislation, learning parliamentary procedure, impacting University policy, meeting with administrators, aiding your clubs and organizations, or any other number of things SGAs across the country do. If not, here is my challenge to you: find that passion. It is that passion that makes student government such an amazing experience- and what helps create the best work.

Next, I want you to take action. I want you to focus on that passion- hone it, and bring advance your SGA in that area. Being in student government, you’ve probably also met that person who tries to take on everything, or at least everything in a certain area. That’s someone who has found their passion, and acted on it, but has gone a bit overboard. There may not be such a thing as too much passion, but we all know the fatal disease among student leaders known as burnout. That is something that can be avoided simply by having others with that same passion working with that SGA official (plus a little delegation training never hurt anyone either).

If you follow those steps, you will rarely ever feel like what you’re doing is ever actually work. It may seem common sense, after all we all repeat the “work a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” mantra. But, in the reality of the situation, that often gets lost to the concerns of “Do we have the space booked? Has the money been transferred to X account? Are the polling stations ready?” and countless other questions that run through our heads as we serve fellow students. Take some time this summer to pause, and realize that passion. Hone your skills. Not only will it help your student government, but in turn your fellow students, and your own job prospects.

Now, why go off on this tangent? Well, USSA’s new President is one of those individuals who first helped me find my passion surrounding issues impacting public higher education hear in Massachusetts. Since then, I have let that passion guide me in student government, reminding myself that, ultimately, we as an Undergraduate Student Government need to address these issues, not just for our current students, but our successors. These policy changes are unlikely to impact us, but we need to make a better tomorrow for our successors so that they may continue to move education and student organizing forward in the future. The Massachusetts Students Uniting listserv may be quiet, but the passion hums on. Each of us continues to try and make things better for the next incoming class of freshmen. Our counterparts of Salem State have successfully passed a bill granting the college University status through the state senate, and onto the desk of Governor Patrick. Undocumented students from across Massachusetts, including current and former UMass Boston students, held a vigil outside the State House protesting SB1070-esque legislation. And across the UMass and state college system, students have been actively engaging with PHENOM to try and reverse funding trends in our state that never should have occurred the first time, let alone over 3 decades.

I’ve found my passion guiding me these past few weeks as I try to make positive changes for our USG at UMass Boston. Drafting further legislation requiring and fostering respect amongst senators, hammering out job descriptions so all officers can more easily be held accountable, drafting legislation to not only better our officer transition process- but to create one, alongside drafting a to do list for creating a training regimen for our senators.

Let your passion guide you and move you forward, that, ultimately, will move you and your SGA into the future. Afterall, if you aren’t passionate, why are you a part of an organization dedicate to serving one of the most passionate and future-oriented demographics in the world?

NOTE: Cross-posted from One Part Student…

This post comes as I am gearing up to attend the United States Student Organization Congress, in LA.

There is always talk of creating a new student movement, but why? Why are some students so obsessed with uniting students across the country?

Our society has always been a society adept at co-opting students into settling for less than they are entitled. This may sound greedy, perhaps even arrogant, but until the day higher education is a right, and not a privilege, it will remain true. Many students understand that building national student power, enough to challenge even the politicians in the halls of Congress, is essential to advancing the goal of higher education for all.

It is important for students involved with advancing a student agenda, one focused on building coalitions, to understand where the idea of student power has come from. It is something that perhaps no one can understand in full (other than perhaps Angus Johnston, author of a 500 page dissertation on the matter), but something critical to our aggregation of student rights. When administrations made concessions to allow students some “power” to assume governing roles in their institutions, a step backward in the formulation of real student power was made.

Administrations realized that if they gave the majority of students some right in determining appropriate college conduct, and encouraged them to think they did have real power, they could easily squash any dissent or disorderly students quicker than with ironclad rules. But please my peers; let’s not buy these bribes and illusions of power.

But this isn’t even the point; the point is that knowledge is power and by dividing students, power is eliminated. A cohesive student movement is a thing of the past, or depending on how you look at history, something never achieved.

Budget cuts, and tuition hikes further distance the idea of a united student movement (just look at the empty seats and offices at your university). Students have been put on the defensive, and it’s high time we take the offensive. It’s time we convince the general public that the merits of free higher education for all are undeniable. It’s time we talk to our families, our senators, our peers and friends, our administrations, and everyone else who we can convince to fight on our behalf.

What should a national student organization (NSO) to build student power look like? We must invest in an organization that benefits all students. Our period in time will make or break a NSO. We are faced with many politically divisive issues, and many issues that affect students. A NSO must educate, it must introduce students to tools that enable the fight for student power on their prospective campuses. The passion and dedication that students have often shown on their campuses must be effectively channeled to campuses across the nation so that when one student body achieves victory in the fight for their rights, it is a victory for all students across the U.S. Let’s bridge the gaps, those divides created by those who benefit from maintaining the status quo, and regain our power through knowledge.

What should a National Student Association look like? Do we need student power? Should higher education be free? How do we deal with divisive student issues?

I would like to hear what you all think, and I’ll be posting some follow up as soon as possible!