The Concordian

Oftentimes when former Student Government Association executives choose to write a letter to the Concordian, it is seen in bad taste, either as an attempt to ignite controversy or as a platform for a future campaign. I can assure you that this letter is neither, nor is it a bitterness that I feel for my former opponent. I merely want to shed an informed insight.

Last year, I ran against Jeffrey Yeager for the position of President of the Concord University Student Government Association (which is also the President of the student body). I ran because I felt I was the best qualified and had the most experience. Unfortunately for myself, I lost, but I felt that Concord’s students would be in safe hands with Jeff’s new government, which had promised time and time again on the campaign trail to be transparent and accomplish the impossible by making the SGA more accessible to all of Concord’s students. I used the word “felt” in the past tense; take notice.

I’ve been a student at Concord since the fall of 2005; I was active in SGA from that time until last semester. I’ve seen five different SGA Presidents with five different agendas. If anyone questions my ability to scrutinize this administration, feel free to look at my SGA record. Last year’s SGA President, Wes Prince, was often criticized (by many of the “higher ups” in this current administration) for being a “lame duck”. His opposition said that he hadn’t really accomplished much. This argument, in fact, is untrue. And even if his critics believe he acted poorly, inaction is far worse than poor action. Former President Prince’s problem was his inability to convey the inner workings of SGA and its accomplishments to the public. Again, President Yeager’s administration promised to fix this problem.

Unfortunately for the students of Concord, it appears that the word “transparency” has a different working definition depending on who you are and where you sit in the State Room on Wednesdays at 4. To be quite honest, I was unaware that the SGA had been opaque in the past. Under at least two administrations in the past five years, detailed initiatives lists were distributed to the Senate and constantly referred to. If a student looked at the list and wanted to know what a committee had accomplished as far as, for example, visitation hours, they need only look at the list and find the person assigned to that duty to discover what had been done. President Yeager has not distributed an initiatives list. I’m honestly not sure what initiatives this administration wanted to tackle; if any one would like to clear the air on that, please do so! President Yeager graduates in May; we don’t have much time to accomplish many more major tasks. I ask you now: what has this SGA administration accomplished? 

President Yeager’s campaign Facebook page, which you can view by logging onto Facebook and searching “Vote Jeff Yeager for SGA President,” lists the initiatives he wanted to tackle last spring. Among them, he talks about wanting to bring back integrity to the SGA, by getting rid of the “country club” mentality. If you are ever in the Student Center, look and see if the SGA office door is open. I can guarantee you that it more than likely is not. It’s awfully difficult to be a student advocate if the students can’t contact you. He lists recreating a few committees to increase the integrity of SGA; he did this, but I’m not sure what Judicial Reform committee has done this year besides proposing that all student hearing board constitutional interpretations be written down. He says that he wants to “work hard for the athletes of this university.” I am not an athlete, so I would like to ask those who are: what steps have been taken this year to ensure that you are a “well-respected group on campus”? He also discusses working hard for commuters. Yeager’s campaign promised to make appointments to SGA positions fair, and I can state that they, for the most part, have been to my knowledge. 

The page also says that Yeager knows “how to run a meeting” and until recently, I didn’t have much of an argument except for the fact that Yeager completely dismisses the article in the Constitution that says a Vice President must chair the meetings in the absence of the President, and instead Yeager has his Parliamentarian do so. I have, along with others, informed President Yeager that this is incorrect and in direct violation of the rules of SGA, but he continues to do so still. But during last Wednesday’s meeting, a meeting which President Yeager says was “cracking the whip”, Advisor Dr. Charles Brichford informed the Senate that they could not take any sort of action during closed session—which is where everyone who does not have voting rights is asked to leave. His advice, which follows Roberts’ Rules of Order (the same rules SGA follows), was not adhered to and the ballots for a vote were passed out and collected. I hear that this was sidestepped by the fact that the votes weren’t tallied until after closed session was over, but it would seem that when an advisor tells you something is unacceptable, you should wait. I’m not sure what an example of “integrity” that could possibly be.

I know that the Yeager administration has pinned increasing the amount of Flex dollars under its belt of accomplishments this year, but I would like to point out that last year’s Dining Committee Chair, Carissa Dengler, had been discussing this issue with Dining Manager Randy Keaton for at least the past two years. While the change did occur this year, under the Yeager administration, I would argue that the groundwork had been laid by the Dining Committee for two years prior.

The Yeager Administration was also responsible for extending the library hours, in one annex of the library, to be open twenty-four hours. Sadly, student use of the “much needed” twenty-four hour library was so minute that Library Director Dr. Stephen Rowe could not sustain the program.

Another one of the Yeager administration’s shining jewels was developing a Religious Studies program at Concord. I have no opinion on this issue whatsoever, but if Concord students supported the idea, more power to Yeager! Unfortunately, the Religious Studies program has yet to materialize. Stay tuned; maybe it will.

The Yeager administration, it appears, has had a very inward focus on the Student Government. I remember hearing it once said that if the SGA turns inward upon itself (meaning focusing on internal issues), the student body suffers because nothing gets done. I would greatly like to believe that this is not the case with this administration, but the facts are staggering, especially when you consider that last Wednesday, the Senate moved into closed session to discuss how to become more productive—what was that word they were looking for? Transparency?

I suppose I should mention that I think Jeff Yeager is a pretty stand up guy. This letter isn’t meant to be a personal attack against him or any single member of his administration. And there are very staunch and loyal student advocates within the current SGA. As I said when I began, I’m not doing this for any personal reasons. Honestly, I’m not sure what steps could be taken to ensure that the next three months are more productive than the last have been. I suppose my purpose for writing this is to stir up some of the gusto I remember the student body once having…the same spirit that led over two hundred and fifty students to march and picket outside of the Board of Governors’ tuition increase meeting in 2008. I have a great respect for the Student Government Association and for all those students, past and present, who have become actively involved in it. And I can understand that from an outside perspective, without seeing first hand results of what can be accomplished (besides Homecoming and Spring Fling events), it’s easy to say that the SGA feeds on its own, and is sustained by, drama.

I challenge you, however, as a student to remember that the Student Government Association is not just a drama monger. It is a voice for you and for your rights as a student at the most basic and the most complex levels of Concord University. And remember, it’s also an investment—every student pays for SGA, so why shouldn’t every student care about what it’s doing?

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