Ticketing TSG

Temple Student Government tickets need to more narrowly define their platforms.

Election season is upon us again, and we’re not talking about the mayoral race.

With the semester more than halfway through, two tickets for next year’s Temple Student Government have formed. This week in “Owl Future and TU Nation begin campaign,” Page 2, Cary Carr reports both Owl Future and TU Nation’s platforms. While The Temple News will stop short of endorsing either ticket, we will point out the promising – and not-so-promising – plans by both tickets.

Like any TSG election, both tickets have worthwhile goals. Owl Future said it wants to integrate students with TSG more by using more marketing, technology and one-on-one time with student organizations. Making @templetsg more active on Twitter won’t hurt, but Owl Future is banking on something TSG has been trying to accomplish for years: getting the student body more involved.

For students to Skype in their problems or @reply TSG on Twitter, they need to know TSG will be able to help. Also, if Owl Future truly wants to get innovative with technology, it should consider streaming the senate meetings live on its website and allow students to view them if their schedules don’t allow them to attend.

TU Nation also is campaigning on a good platform: more communication. By integrating more student-community involvement and promoting more conversations with the administration and Campus Safety Services, Temple will become a more cohesive university.

However, how will TU Nation get us there? Colin Saltry, who is the current TSG senate president, told The Temple News TU Nation knows “what’s wrong with student government,” and knows “how to fix it.”

The Temple News encourages both Owl Future and TU Nation to point out exactly what is wrong with TSG at present and what the solutions are. That’s what students – who are the voters – need to know. If a solution is a Band-Aid, it can easily be peeled off once that ticket is elected into office.

Both tickets also need to consider how little students know about TSG. The lack of participation from the student body may very well stem from the fact that students don’t know if TSG can help them at all – or what it does exactly.