ALMIRON: RUSA needs to recover its credibility
Column: The Other Side of the Story
With the resignation of a president and executive board officer and much criticism from students, the Rutgers University Student Assembly has earned a bad reputation recently. Now the Spring 2023 elections are happening, and it is time to see if that reputation will be rebuilt.
To address the current issues with the organization, we must evaluate the 16th Assembly, which started in Spring 2022 and will end in Spring 2023.
There are questions still unanswered about some scandals. After the disqualification of Spring 2022 candidates David Han, a School of Arts and Sciences junior, and Nina Gohel, a School of Arts and Sciences senior, which was enacted after the voting period ended, there was a long delay in the release of the Spring 2022 elections and referendum.
When the results were finally posted, the Elections Commission omitted the votes toward said candidates. This event echoes a large problem: How much can we trust our student government?
With more than 48,000 undergraduate students at Rutgers and less than 3,000 voters in the last spring elections, the leaders and representatives of the Assembly should reflect on what the organization is not doing to garner the respect and attention that they used to.
The 2022 referendum on student fees, which asked students if they approved of raising the student fee and limitations to increasing it in the future, failed to reach the 10 percent voter turnout, invalidating it. The entire structure would be in deep trouble if a 10 percent minimum voter turnout for the student fee referendum were also applied to the elections. Due to poor participation, the Assembly faces a crisis of legitimacy.
Despite our student government’s potential influence, the average student does not know what the Assembly is or does. This is not due to willful ignorance or lack of attention but rather the state to which the Assembly has condemned itself.
From my own experience after numerous interactions with former and current members, the problem with the Assembly consists of two components: its environment and its way of approaching issues among the student body.
To the common student, most legislation is invisible, ineffective or both. The few pieces of legislation that deserve praise, such as expanding efforts to provide resources to students, are simply not credited to the organization.
I ask this: Did you know you were able to ask for KN95 masks at any student center? This happened thanks to the Assembly.
If you did not know, that is due to the abysmal transparency of the organization. Neither its page nor the president’s official account on Instagram presents progress except for trips to Washington, D.C.
I would attempt to look at newer activity, but finding it is a challenge when those in charge of the website stopped publishing minutes in 2022 and the bills for Spring 2023. After emailing the secretary as told by the website and following up twice, I have yet to receive any updated minutes. Aarushi Fernandez, the Assembly's secretary and a School of Engineering junior, is curiously running for vice president on a platform that advocates for transparency.
It may seem that the Assembly even rejects attention toward it. On one occasion, the Assembly stopped the press from New Brunswick Today from entering a town hall meeting with Mayor James M. Cahill and called the police on journalist Charlie Kratovil, claiming that he had been acting aggressively despite video footage showing a quiet, peaceful resolution.
Besides these egregious problems, the leadership's commitment to representing the interests of the student body is currently insufficient.
The interests of the Assembly appear to be inclined toward promoting equality and social justice on campus, including the endorsement of interfaith events, calls for access to menstrual products and support for faculty. The success of these policies depends on being active by following up on efforts for policies and using Assembly resources to address issues.
Some initiatives, like supporting fair wages for students or faculty, have not gained attention from the student body because of the lack of efforts to organize students. If the Assembly conforms to performative activism by releasing statements without taking further action or working with clubs or organizations related to topics like conditions for the University workers, then the contribution of this already unrecognized body will not bring noticeable outputs.
An effective Assembly must go as far as constantly working with the student body in pursuit of its original goals. An example could be seen in 2011 when the organization challenged the University to stop aggressive tuition raises and protest the student debt crisis.
While we do not necessarily need our president to expose themself to the point of being arrested like back then, the commitment back then must serve as inspiration.
The best way to know if the Assembly is doing its job properly is ultimately up to the awareness of students. If students have something good to say about the Assembly nowadays, then it is out of its crisis. Until then, there is only stagnation.
With elections closing soon, we must expect better, scrutinize candidates and be sure that our next leaders change the course by directly engaging with the student body to reflect on what changes they want to see.
Paulo Almiron is a senior in the School of Arts and Sciences majoring in political science and minoring in planning and public policy. His column, "The Other Side Of The Story," runs on alternate Mondays.
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