The Associated Students Senate will always be the ugly duckling of this college without better support from faculty.

By assisting in the recruitment of new senators, compensating them with academic credits, and educating students on the issues the senate presides over, teachers could assist in the development of a powerhouse student senate and solve part of the riddle known as student success.

Only three presidential races in the past eight years have been contested, with the latest election garnering fewer than 300 votes on a campus of 17,000 students. This student apathy at the polls, and on campus issues, is the fault of the college and its faculty.

The Channels strongly urges the college and faculty members teaching courses related to government to better support and publicize the student senate.

In a year where student success is the biggest college-wide concern, student government and participation should be paramount. A sure-fire way to promote student success is to get students involved on campus.

Students are responsible for arming themselves with information. But this is a college, where students must be educated as much as they educate themselves. It’s time the faculty takes responsibility for aiding the senators in office by promoting the senate and current campus issues within their classrooms.

Students need more from teachers than a few red lines scribbled on their papers.

In one case, a current senator sought signatures from her teachers to join the senate. Some of them refused to sign the petition because they didn’t even know the college had a student senate. This is unacceptable.

The faculty is here to serve student needs and facilitate their educational goals. In this case, it isn’t happening.

Some teachers do promote the senate in their classrooms. But some is not enough.

The senate rarely sees a full house. It averages 15 members leaving 11 empty seats per semester. The Channels insists that the seats will not get filled without feeder programs from departments like political science, history, communication, and business. Teachers in these departments should recommend their higher achieving students to seize these important posts rather than pass this responsibility off to the other governing bodies that prefer students keep quiet.

On paper, senators receive few benefits other than a transfer application ornament. Academic credit must be given to senators for their service to the college.

According to their advisor, these students spend an average of two hours per week on senate related tasks. And the president can spend up to 15 hours per week working for students. They gain valuable learning experience worthy of academic credit, not just a staff-parking permit. This will not happen until department chairs dedicate more time to drafting a proposal giving senators academic credit, than they do planning study abroad trips to Asia.

Without the college honoring these suggestions, the student senate will never grow from a gawky grey bird to a majestic swan.