Letters: Jake Zitterkopf

Dear Editor:

I’d like to start by thanking you for your interest in our Student Government Association.
Kevin Oleksy suggested “Senate should scrutinize it’s [sic] own efficiency, relevance, not just CAB’s” in last week’s issue of The Eagle.

Let me remind each of you that the discussions at the last Student Senate meeting in reference to CAB were directly correlated with the efficiency of Senate, as Senate oversees the Campus Activities Board.

Many representatives of CAB approached their Student Senators as well as the Student Senate Executive Board in reference to the efficiency status, and because of this concern it was placed on the agenda and opened for discussion.

Responses regarding feedback from the most recent CAB survey are currently being collected. Please note that any changes made to CAB will be approved by the club representatives in CAB and finalized by your Student Senate.

We are currently working very hard to improve communication and interaction with the student body, and have been for months.

We cannot force participation in surveys, walkthroughs, booths, etc. When little feedback is received it makes it very difficult to make decisions that “everyone” approves of.

Amending the constitution to require adequate, if not equal, representation for each of the three academic schools is quite the proposal.

We recently amended our constitution to comply with the new schools: Liberal Arts, BEAMSS, EHPCPSW, and At-Large. For the first time in the last decade, the number of student senators per school was increased to eight from five.

We are confident that with time, publicity, and support from people like you, we can fill each school to have equal representation, and more representation of our entire student population.

A representation rate slightly above 1.5% (32 Senators, 11 Jr. Senators for over 2,800 students) is quite impressive if you ask me. Reducing the size of the Student Senate, I believe, would only hinder the chance to maximize the representation of our student body, directly reducing the excellent opportunity to accomplish more.

And last time I checked, the CSC Student Senate was not created to “impress” – Student Senate aims to provide a forum for the expression of student views and interests; to be the voice of the student body; to improve student cultural and social welfare; and to ensure the continued existence of student’s rights, both in principle and in practice.

I feel that your Senators are doing a very fine job at completing the aforementioned tasks!
I want to publicly thank everyone in Student Senate and CAB for their continuous support of the Chadron State College campus! Without all of your hard work and dedication, we certainly would not be where we are today.

And lastly, I’d like to personally invite all students to consider filling out a petition to join Student Senate or CAB – you can attempt to put your words into actions.

If not, please note that you are always invited to attend a Student Senate meeting 5 p.m. Mondays, or a CAB meeting 6 p.m. Tuesdays, both of which are held in the Scottsbluff Room of the CSC Student Center.

—Jacob Zitterkopf,
Student Senate President
Scottsbluff