At a university in Oklahoma, student government senators paused their senate meeting because they wanted ice cream.
We aren’t kidding.
All the senators got up, walked to their cafeteria and got the ice cream. Then they reconvened the meeting.
But then they realized they forgot the spoons.
So every single senator in the room got back up and walked to the cafeteria to get spoons.
Clearly, the senators weren’t happy to find out the reporter at the meeting live tweeted the whole event. But neither was the student body when they found out how their student government behaved during meetings.
The Crow’s Nest attended the Associated Collegiate Press conference in Philadelphia this weekend, and we heard stories from college newspapers across the country. It reminded us of the importance of telling stories of our campus. Our job is to give students to information they need to know for self-governance. And if their student government is eating ice cream when they’re supposed to be passing legislation—students need to know.
But we’re grateful that our student government members don’t take their jobs so lightly. Sure, our government is certainly dealing with their share of problems, and it’s our job to cover that. But it’s also our job to give credit where it’s due. So we’re grateful for a student government that is dedicated.
We are also grateful for the support we’ve historically had at USF St. Petersburg. We’ve never been subject to review of the contents of our paper, which is hugely important for freedom of the press and the free flow of ideas.
Our SG makes documents public, and keeps meetings open. Other universities struggle with associations who close their meetings—albeit illegally—to keep the press out.
Many student media outlets we met at the conference came from large schools. Their journalism or student affairs departments could afford to provide them with a full-time faculty member to advise their paper. We also met many students from small schools who have indifferent advisers.
At USFSP, we don’t have the means to pay an adviser a full-time salary to work with our student media outlets. This means we have to do some things that other schools may have their faculty advisers do for them. But perhaps we’re getting a better learning experience from it.
But we are blessed with a faculty adviser who works far harder than he should for the pay he gets. We may not have all the resources of a larger university, but we don’t think our experience would be better elsewhere.
So thanks, USFSP. Please continue your legacy of supporting us—and the students here—by honoring freedom of the press.
