Legislative branch a handicap

As a student government senator down at UC San Diego, I’ve
always looked at my position with a sort of resigned distaste,
trying to make the best I can out of a silly title.

I have to admit I’ve always been a little jealous of
UCLA’s Undergraduate Students Association Council ““ its
autonomy, its resources, those Gothic offices in Kerckhoff. But
speaking as a rules-and-bylaws junkie, I’ve always liked its
structure the best.

So when I heard some folks were pushing for a senate, I felt
obliged to shout from 100 miles away ““ don’t do it!
Please, save yourselves at least!

Why have a senate? The primary function of a senate ““ and
you can trace this as far back as ancient Rome ““ is to put a
check on a powerful, centralized executive. But when it comes to
student governments, this function makes no sense.

“Student government” is actually a misleading phrase
because the real function of these offices is not government, but
advocacy. So why would we want to check the powers of our chief
advocates? It’s like putting a doctor’s decisions to a
vote during surgery. The UC Board of Regents and our vice
chancellors put enough limitations on student bodies. Why should we
handicap ourselves further?

You may think I’m exaggerating, but that’s exactly
what happens at UCSD. Every year, our Associated Students president
draws up an executive budget with the input of the vice presidents
and commissioners ““ usually folks who have worked in those
offices for two or three years. Then the senators ““ typically
political science greenhorns ““ proceed to tear apart the
budget according to vague, irrelevant ideologies they talked about
in section.

The result is that our vice president external, who’s been
lobbying the regents to stop fee hikes for two years now, gets his
office resources slashed at the hand of 24 students whose only
familiarity with the UC Regents is the “Pay to the Order
of” line on their tuition checks.

The one role of the senate is to review decisions and vote. We
senators, for the most part, do not create policy, take action or
run campaigns. Our one power, by the very nature of the senate, is
to stop others from doing so.

So why have a senate? From what I’ve seen in the Daily
Bruin, the basic idea is to get more students involved in USAC
““ an admirable goal. But the best way to do this is not some
vestigial legislative branch, but an expanded staff in the
offices.

The Associated Students of UCSD’s senate costs $7,000 a
year in stipends ““ money that could go toward strengthening
our advocacy initiatives and our student organizations.

Unfortunately, the most common argument I’m seeing for a
senate is something like, “Our federal government has one; we
should have one too.” Everybody wants their student
government to sound as important as the U.S. government, but
let’s face it ““ it’s not.

So think before you shackle your advocates.

McCombs is an ASUCSD senator.