Student leaders unknown on campus

Most students cannot name their student government leaders, according to a recent survey conducted by the Nominations and Elections Committee. The vast majority of the 1,260 students who responded to the survey -- which was conducted during the month of February -- had never served on a position in student government. The survey was divided into three main sections -- what each student government branch is responsible for, who the leaders of student government are and when and where elections take place. A space was also left aside for explanations and suggestions. Although most students did well in matching up the branches and their functions -- results ranged from 69.3 percent being knowledgeable on the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education to 91.2 being knowledgeable on the Social Planning and Events Committee -- their knowledge was lacking for the questions concerning leadership -- results ranged from 8.7 percent knowing the name of the SCUE chair to 29.2 knowing the name of the Undergraduate Assembly chair. Students, however, did express knowledge of their class boards -- at least three-quarters of each class knew their president. According to NEC Vice Chairman of Education and College senior Ashley Braden, the problem stems partly from the lack of follow-up information on candidates after elections. Last year, the NEC developed the position of vice chairman of education, which is still in its developmental stages. Until now, the position has been responsible for educating candidates and student groups about student government. But Braden, the second person to hold this position, said that she needed to take it to a new level. Braden said that she wanted to "design an education program that will serve its purpose, which is to educate." And to do this, she said it was first necessary to determine which areas of student government students needed to be educated about. In response to the survey results, she said that she hopes to distribute more information on the winners and to stress the issues that they actively support. Braden added that students often feel as if student government is not as active as they would like, but she said this conception is due to lack of proper communication with their constituents. "The disparity is that the student groups actually do accomplish things during the year, but the undergraduate population doesn't know what they accomplish." Braden said she believes that if communication is improved by the branches of student government, their presence will be increased on campus. The Student Activities Committee has over 150 groups to communicate with, so outgoing SAC Vice Chairman Nicolas Rodriquez, a College junior, said that the group is "open to anything that might help with education." UA Vice Chairman Ethan Kay, a Wharton senior, stressed the importance of the survey's implications. "Areas of weakness that the survey points out are areas that I think it is vital that we capitalize on," Kay said. Already, the UA holds office hours twice a week, sets up tables at key locations and holds steering meetings to keep in close contact with students. Suggestions that the NEC hopes will be adopted include an increased use of listservs, direct links to student government Web sites featured on Penn Portal, increased interaction between branches of student government and a more direct correlation between prospective officers and their campaign platforms. The NEC will be posting the survey results on its Web site in the weeks following spring break.