First of all, the student body of HU should congratulate the teams who took on the surprisingly robust task to run in the 2014 Hamline Undergraduate Student Congress (HUSC) presidential and representative campaign. Each campaign team can consider themselves leaders—no matter the outcomes. Early last Friday, I was surprised to receive an email that read, “You [Don Allen] have been elected to be a Senior Representative in HUSC for the 2014-2015 year.” Of course it was not the position I was running for, but nevertheless is something I must do. You must admit “being elected” is a powerful statement in itself because this elected position was a student body choice, or write-in. The process of husking the Hamline Undergraduate Student Congress is not an easy task—but at times can be telling.

Before I move forward, don’t get too uncomfortable; this is not an uncompromising, hard-nosed piece about HUSC. This is only a humble view from a HU student who wanted to know what makes HUSC tick. Never in my life would I think a student congress, student body representation campaign at a private college could be as cutthroat as what I just experienced in 2014’s election process.  For me, it was a realization that political tomfoolery can happen at any level.

In the real world, with the Federal Election Campaign (FEC) laws, people running for office on any campaign would be fined, or even worse, end up in federal prison for violating campaign laws. The rules for the HUSC presidential and vice presidential election were sidestepped and opened for a select, privileged few to elude. Lucky for us, this is not the real world and HU is a place for students to test the waters, experiment, make mistakes and look backwards into the mirror, while keeping in mind that sometimes the mirror lies.

The 2014 HUSC presidential campaign exposed the political playbook of clout that screamed loudly in an arena barren to some HU students. It also exposed the lack of engagement for the majority of the student body. If on the inside you can redefine, manipulate and guide people around you with suggestive statements and potentially obstruct any type of fair process, I guess that’s okay. In retrospect, this is the best time in life for a 20-something to make mistakes and take corrective action to remedy their situation(s).

I was at the HUSC meeting in late February when it was announced that there would be food delivery from the Piper Grill to the dorms. A gallant effort, but a fiscal conservative might say delivering food from the Piper Grill to campus dorm rooms is important —only on a campus that is the size of a small city. Two square blocks does not invoke a Jimmy John’s protocol. In the view of someone who believes in capitalism, free markets and the American Dream, this could turn out to be a venture that spirals downhill quickly. I would have rather liked hearing about how HUSC assisted two students to stay at HU rather than hearing that they packed up and went home last week due to communication issues with the financial aid office. This was the fate last week of two HU athletes who had no other options but to drop out and head home. Despite the cost of attending HU and the many reasons students do not finish, one could argue communication mismanagement is the wart that sits on the tip of the nose.

Connecting the dots in the logical reasoning of HUSC will be the first step in analyzing many of the significant issues surrounding the lack of participation by the HU student body. This does not mean HUSC is doing a bad job—what this tells us is that HUSC needs to be more attractive, controversial and broad- reaching in outcomes that will evoke a response from the HU student body.

Participation in HUSC is key for the survival of  the voice of HU’s student body.

Simply put, the need to build capacity for HUSC in terms of membership, participation and programming has faced barriers overlooked in an infrastructure of ill-perceived privilege and unseen by the inexperienced eye. If students who participate in HU athletics attempt to participate in HUSC elections and don’t have the necessary 3.0 G.P.A., we have an academic challenge that needs to be addressed. What is the reactionary mood to problem solving issues of academic imbalance for all students by HUSC? Is HUSC not our fellow students’ keeper?

There is no easy way to put it. All students must be given the same tipping point of fairness with room to excel from that point. If HUSC wants to operate surreptitiously and outside of their bylaws, the HU student body must hold HUSC in receivership and install new leadership.