I must applaud you for the campaigns you each put together in order to garner victory. I seriously believed the university had switched names due to the mass coverage of your candidacies. I even had to stop fake texting and calling my friends when your supporters approached me on the Drill Field because Verizon said I had reached my limit; your campaigns were just that good.
This letter today is not to beg for a specific passage of legislation (although the mass e-mail reform some of you have discussed in your platforms is mighty enticing), but to ask you all to do one thing during your brief administration: be different.
You see, in my five-plus years here as an undergraduate and graduate student, Student Association has always been an organization in which “certain” people come together. By “certain,” I mean white, more well-to-do, Greek-affiliated students who are likely starting to feel their blood pressures rise as they read this piece.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the Greek system here on campus and will always speak highly of its charity work. There is undoubtedly a large pool of talent within the system which is easy to pull from (it also has the best shirts!), but outside the boundaries of fraternity row, there exists an untapped well of awesomeness.
You will soon choose your cabinet and various committees, and let’s face it, you already have in mind who you want in what position; but I ask you to reconsider.
Take a gander at any picture of the previous SA cabinets and play the game “one of these things is not like the other,” and you’ll see what I am talking about. You have the token minority who pops out due to the paleness of those around, and everyone featured has a strong Greek background.
I am sure these cabinet members all have outstanding pedigrees, but is everyone selected really the person for the job? Or better yet, is the diversity of this university truly represented in the demographics of SA?
MSU has one of the highest graduation rates for African American students in the country, but the presence of blacks in SA is minimal, at best.
Sadly, other minorities and international students fare even more poorly compared to their black counterparts. By the looks of past cabinets and executive councils, you would think Asian, Hispanic or Indian (just to name a few) students do not exist at MSU. Sure, they are there to lead the standard international and minority student affairs committees, but you would be hard pressed to find them anywhere else.
In addition to its diversity problems, I have not known if even one openly gay or lesbian student to ever hold a leadership position in SA. Just think how well organized the events would be if we let a homosexual take the helm; plus, we as a school would always be the best accessorized.
You are probably thinking, “But Patrick, the color of your skin, nationality or sexual orientation should not be the deciding factor in who is chosen to lead the largest student organization at MSU.”
You, the leader, are exactly right. But if you truly encourage and find the best from this university, the diversity will automatically follow.
I understand the likeliness of all this happening is rare due to the fact no one will try out for your cabinet or your board who is not already associated with SA, but I urge you, Mr. President-elect, and other executive members to go out and seek the most talented, well-versed and diverse students MSU has to offer.
Make SA what it has always claimed to be: the representative organization for all students. Let’s embrace that we are a community of many differences and not all carbon copies; otherwise, we’re just another Mississippi university with a rich white kid problem.
Patrick Young is a graduate student majoring in public policy and administration. He can be contacted at [email protected].