Although some good things have happened this year, many of the Undergraduate Student Government's ideas have fallen through the cracks, promises haven't been kept and some actions have been questionable.
The advent of the Martin Luther King Day of Service this year has been the high point of the administration. The day allows organizations to participate in service projects either on campus, off campus or in school districts. Considering that the university has always been a little lax on allowing participation in MLK day, USG has done a very good job in this, allowing people to celebrate a national holiday that should be vacation day. Grade: A
Whatever happened to the expansion of the women's health treatment? One of the biggest platform issues of the Roan-O'Brian campaign still hasn't seen fruition months after they took office. Although the initial idea of a satellite clinic was considered unfeasible, it would still be nice to see some other attempts made. Grade: Incomplete
After Martin Austermuhle received Judicial Affairs sanctions for his involvement in this summer's Beaver Canyon riots, he was forced to resign. The USG Senate attempted to pass a bill that would leave his seat open for the remainder of the year or until he was allowed to return to his position. Fortunately, President Matt Roan vetoed the bill saying that it would affect student body representation. This was a smart move. Austermuhle's dismissal might have been unfair, but that is no reason to leave a Senate seat empty for the remainder of the year. Sure, the idea of protesting his dismissal is nice, but the administration will probably simply ignore it and the student body would lose a voice. Grade: C
Along the same lines, the disbanding of the commission formed to look into various issues of judicial affairs is disheartening. There were many good issues that needed investigating, like the lack of attorney representation for students, but too much apathy prevented anything from getting done by the Dec. 5 deadline. Considering USG just lost one of its strongest members due to possible flaws in the system, this committee should have been of the utmost importance so that something like that doesn't happen in the future. Grade: D
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