Without Targets

TSG candidates should reach beyond typical boundaries this year.

In the coming issues of The Temple News, reporters Angelo Fichera and Josh Fernandez will profile possible candidates for the Temple Student Government tickets in this year’s election. You may not know them, but when you read headlines in this paper covering TSG Senate meetings or State of the Campus addresses, do you actually read the articles, or do you skip over the information?

TSG is a fighting force on Main Campus. The student-run government is currently working on a program to provide legal advice for students’ landlord/tenant issues and last semester, when Fresh Grocer was still the butt of all jokes about the “progress” in Progress Plaza, TSG ran buses to South Philly for students to go grocery shopping.

Regardless of TSG’s moves on Main Campus, it still remains somewhat of a mystery for some Temple students. Students’ ignorance of TSG is no one person or organization’s fault, as the core issue splits into countless causes, but we urge the up-and-coming candidates to reach beyond the normal circle of voters and connect with students who could otherwise care less about TSG. Those students may be surprised how far one thought or suggestion can go when put into the hands of TSG officers.

So often, student organizations walk the fine line between serving a specific group of students who choose to be involved in their cause and actually pursuing their mission for the entire student body. We too, at The Temple News sometimes wonder whether we are adequately servicing students who might not normally pick up a newspaper and, if we aren’t, what we should change about the paper to do so.

Temple’s tried story of diversity exists on the surface of our skin, family backgrounds and income levels, to name a few, but diversity means nothing if we swim in separate schools of fish.

TSG affects all students, whether they participate in the election process or not. It’s important for the candidates to eventually run on sound platforms on specific issues, but when it comes down to it, certain issues only reach a targeted audience.

For current and future TSG members to lend their voice – which can be heard loudly by the decision-making administration – to other issues, students who wouldn’t consider themselves involved with particular organizations that work toward solutions for all students need to voice their concerns. Otherwise, solvable problems go under the radar and remain unaddressed until the issues have transformed into difficult monsters.