By Ken Kruger

Like clockwork every year, campaign signs are posted, debates are held, and promises are made. When it’s all said and done, the election reveals the winners for the next year’s Student Government. After nights of exhaustive campaigning, poster-making, and door-knocking, you feel relieved that it’s finally over.

However, as you’ve undoubtedly realized, the work has only just begun. You mobilize the best leaders on campus, plan retreats, review Robert’s Rules of Order, speak with administrators, and sit though countless meetings to begin the new school year with a sense of guaranteed success. Despite all of your great intentions and hard work, you can get tripped up if you’re unaware of the common assumptions made by SGs.

SGs constantly box themselves into requirements and regulations that potentially hurt the organization. Needless requirements set potential death traps for your new team. If you can avoid these “top 10” mistakes that SGs commonly make, you’ll be well on your way to a successful year.

Make the Grade
GPA requirements for SG involvement are not only unnecessary, but often counter-productive. If a student is allowed on campus in the first place, he should be mature enough to make decisions about the load he’s capable of handling, and if he’s not able to handle the load, that too should be his decision. An SG officer’s job is hard and time consuming. Sometimes, the great work we do cuts into our academics. If you have an amazing SG and a committed member’s grades slip just below a 3.0 or a 2.5, then what? If a member is doing a great job and all of a sudden he gets a 2.4, is the SG going to humiliate him and the organization by ousting that person? No way! Yes, academics are important, but you don’t have to go overboard with setting a GPA requirement.

Also, you’re limiting more students from getting involved. In my experience, 10 percent of the people do 99 percent of the work. Don’t put another burdensome requirement on those trying to make a difference on campus. Encourage academics, but don't beat students over the head with it.

Require Attendance
Leadership camps and conferences help leaders get off on the right foot in the beginning of the year. In fact, they’re extremely useful for inexperienced leaders and experienced leaders to connect and set goals together. But avoid making a carved-in-stone requirement to attend. Why? First of all, it could limit and exclude people from being a part of SG (i.e., non-traditional students with jobs or kids, etc.). If you elect non-trad officers who can’t go away for a week, are you going to penalize them? Some would say, "That's part of the decision in running for SG." But SGs should work to be inclusive and not elitist in their policies. Leadership events should be highly recommended but shouldn’t be used as a means to exclude someone. Be flexible in by-laws when you write these requirements so that all students can benefit.

Cap Spending
Although too many rules can hinder your organization, there are times when they may be appropriate. Spending limits in campus campaigns are needed to level the playing field so that all students have the opportunity to run for office. Better election turnouts will result from more resourceful candidates bringing the issues to the students. Hefty spending budgets merely give students the chance to distract from the real issues with an intense marketing campaign (Read more about spending caps in the Winter 2002 issue of Student Leader).

Lend a Hand
Community service is a hallmark of every great organization. Not enough can be said on what a positive impact this has on your members, students, administrators, and, most of all, those you’re serving. But those 10 percent doing all of the work have a lot on their plate. Be careful again that you don’t exclude members by overwhelming them with requirements. A likely scenario would be to require community service, and in an effort to complete the requirement, the SG member’s GPA slips. Then, you remove the person for falling below the minimum GPA requirement. Don’t punish a person for his good deeds.

Advise Me
SG advisors are a valuable resource. However, problems often arise when the advisor is part of the school’s paid faculty. By its nature, SG won’t always agree with the administration. On very controversial issues, the administration easily can look to that paid advisor and mandate that he fix the public-affairs nightmare or walk the plank.

An SG must be an autonomous organization. The administration has no role in commanding the SG to back down from what it believes is just. If a paid advisor can remain objective and simply advise without getting involved, there isn’t a problem. But it’s important that in situations where the SG and the advisor or administration strongly disagree, there is a process to resolve the situation that ends with the president of the university or higher.

Read Your Dictionary
SGs shouldn’t be viewed as a "student organization" even though it’s an organization made up of students—SG’s main role is as a governance organization. It has responsibilities and duties that include governing student organizations, but there should be caution if SG is ever simply considered a campus group. SG should comply with all the rules it establishes over other student groups. But it’s important to understand that student organizations ultimately are not responsible to the student body—SG is. The university could ban any student organization from existence if it’s warranted, but it cannot ban the right for students to be represented and ensure their tuition and fee monies are properly spent. If a student is able to cough up today’s soaring tuition costs, then she should have some voice in how those funds are used.

Furthermore, “shared governance” is a conversation that you need to have with your administration. It’s important to define this relationship, to understand what the responsibilities are, and to identify how communication between these groups should look and feel. Often, I hear from administrators that some student leaders will come into their offices with “guns blazing.” This puts them on the defensive! Remember that administrators have dedicated their lives to improving education and building great learning institutions—don’t insult them by framing the issues as “students vs. administration.” Most administrators and faculty will bend over backwards for you, but your approach must be full of humility and respect. These can be achieved through solid lines of communication.

Play Nice With Others
Some by-laws restrict SG members from being involved with other organizations while chairing committees and sitting on the executive board. There are some good reasons for restrictions, but consider them very carefully when writing or enforcing by-laws. Obvious conflicts of interest occur when an SG executive board member is part of another student organization requesting money from the Student Activity Fee (SAF) controlled by SG.

Creating by-laws that prohibit executive board members from being in other student organizations is controversial. For example, the University of New Hampshire had several executive board members who were part of other student organizations such as the Diversity Support Coalition and non-trad student organization. Both organizations are active in the campus community and frequently request funding from SAF. Although there’s an apparent conflict of interest here, it’s a form of discrimination to require these highly qualified students to quit the very organizations with which they identify themselves and that give them support.

Many students in SG are members of several other student organizations, often serving as officers because no one else wanted the job. A by-law that prevents SG members from serving in other groups also prevents SG from taking advantage of these great campus leaders. There’s an easy way to deal with this conflict of interest problem. Develop a code of conduct for SG executive board members to simply abstain should a “conflict of interest” situation arise.

Count Your Pennies
Most of the costs to operate a college or university are paid for by student tuition and fees. Therefore, students have every right to ensure that money is spent prudently and will benefit the student body. Annually, the UNH Student Senate facilitates the Fee Oversight Committee (FOC), which is made up of student liaisons between SG and the university departments that benefit from student fees. FOC liaisons are responsible for analyzing line-by-line budget items of each auxiliary, including a cost-benefit analysis of proposed future programs or fee increases. After several months of negotiations, the FOC liaison and the auxiliary heads go before the senate for a vote. The fee doesn’t take effect until this process occurs and is presented to the Board of Trustees upon passage.

This process is successful because students and administrators work side-by-side evaluating monies spent on programs in the previous years and assessing future goals of that auxiliary. No stone is left unturned, and when the Board of Trustees makes the final decision, they expect that the students approve of the fees. The entire process adds legitimacy to program spending and is a vital function of SG.

Every SG should be included in budgetary decisions at all levels. Furthermore, it should be the expectation of every university department to include students on all committees that affect students, be it academic or otherwise.

Do Unto Others
Gossip is the most divisive and destructive thing we have to deal with as leaders. It’s very easy to get caught up in this deadly trap. From negative e-mails to endless chatter about others behind closed doors, SG leadership must deal with this problem decisively.

Create a policy in the code of conduct that stipulates that gossip won’t be tolerated, and then enforce the policy as much as possible. If anything, handle internal issues such as gossip in an executive board meeting only. These types of distractions completely destroy all of the work you put into building a team environment. Therefore, minimize the exposure to the entire SG at all costs, but ensure that it’s dealt with immediately. It’s also a good idea that the removal of any senator happens during an executive board meeting to limit the destructive potential of debates on the senate floor. Besides, SGs want to be viewed by the student body as dealing with campus issues, not internal ones.

Grow up Big and Strong
When making policy, keep in mind that what you do affects the SG many years after you leave, be it positive or negative. Remember that the university is preparing you to make decisions as leaders for the future. In fact, SG is one of the most educational learning environments on campus. Build strong relationships with administrators but be sure they know you expect SG will have greater input in all decision-making at the university. Be sure that you never lose the perspective about including and empowering people on your campus. Only together can you make a difference. When SGs have that mindset, they will truly be the leaders on campus.

Ken Kruger was the University of New Hampshire Student Body president for 2001-02. Contact Kruger at kfkruger@cisunix.unh.edu.