By Staff

While the race for the U.S. Presidency, which will not be held until November 2008, has already heated up, elections for positions in the University’s Student Government Association are only weeks away, yet the contest (if it can even be called that) could not be more dull.

This Wednesday students gathered at a mandatory meeting for all those interested in running for SGA president, vice president, senate and the judicial panel, however, all the faces in the room were familiar ones as not a single person is running contested.

This means either the student body is completely satisfied with the work of this past year’s SGA or they have reached a new level of apathy and laziness. This is not to say that the current body of student leaders has not done a praiseworthy job. In between the attempts at impeachment and the fights over whether nativity statues should be permitted in the SGA office, the group has made some positive changes at the University on behalf of students. They’ve expanded the Blue Beetle route, passed legislation to make the once secretive club budget process more open, created a committee to help groups fundraise and hosted forums, on campus as well as on Facebook, to gain input from students, as well as countless other small projects that go unnoticed but contribute to improving the overall quality of students’ experiences at Hofstra. Not bad, right?

Still, is there not at least one person – a member of the lower rungs of SGA or any student – who thinks they could do better? It would take weeks, maybe even months, to comb through every past issue in The Chronicle’s dusty archives, which date back to the 1930s, to count the number of times that SGA has found itself in this position. However, a source has told me that the last time this occurred, where candidates for higher office ran unopposed, was because the challengers were disqualified due to poor grades. At least in this example, students had the desire to be leaders, but they were prevented from pursuing their goals. That story is an unfortunate one, but what we are looking at here is just depressing. Where are the leaders at Hofstra? Are they all too busy juggling school work and various extracurricular activities, or is this type of person gradually becoming extinct in a culture that places self-gratification before sacrifice and public service?

Last year, the SGA elections boasted the largest turnout in history. Not to be overlooked though, is the fact that for the first time students could vote from their personal computers by using the Hofstra Portal, which can explain the reason for the swell in student votes. Thus, when students cast their votes in the last election, they were not more motivated, more involved or more concerned about the University compared to previous years. SGA had just made the process so simple and convenient that it was hard for students to pass it up; it was just one other way for them to kill a minute of their idle time, in between browsing Facebook, checking e-mail and waiting for their music to download.

The student body is no less apathetic and judging from Wednesday’s meeting, they may be even more detached than ever. This may not seem like a serious problem now, seeing as current SGA President Peter DiSilvio and his Vice President Russell Akiyama are more than willing to serve their positions for another year, but what happens when this twosome graduates? They will eventually have to pass the baton off to someone else and it’s distressing that there are not dozens of hands fighting for the position. If these born leaders are not rising to the call now, we should not assume that they will magically appear next year or the year after that.

Students need to stop waiting for someone else to take the initiative, to do their dirty work and to take the leadership reigns. While student government, or any other job on campus that requires a lot of work for no pay, may not sound as appealing as a night out at Mirage or as profitable as earning paychecks for folding clothes at the mall, these are the opportunities to gain priceless skills and experience to boost your resume and to effect change at the University. Most of the time, these jobs are thankless, but someone must do them, but why do they constantly fall upon the shoulders of a small portion of the student body?

Hofstra students this is your wake up call. Whether you want to admit it or not, you are adults and in no time you will be starting your careers, or maybe still pleading with employers to give you a job. It’s time to accept the fact that life will not always be fun and get over the idea that college is supposed to be the last hurray, a four-year party before you are forced to trade your flip-flops and sweats for dress shoes and suits when you enter the corporate world. There are clubs and organizations on campus that could benefit from more student involvement and leadership. Mahatma Gandhi famously said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” That world starts today, here at Hofstra, not after graduation. So start getting involved, challenge yourself and next time an opportunity to make a difference or tackle a new responsibility arises, do not pass it off for some else to handle, but take charge and be the change you want to see at the University, and you might even surprise yourself.

by Andres Soto