CAMPUS

Re: An Imperfect Solution

Matt, I agree with you (and Winston Churchill) that representative democracy is easily the most preferable form of government. However, as you note, there are problems with the system, and I would say student government is more susceptible to these problems than regular government.

In fact, student government often appears to me as a microcosm of what a bad democracy looks like – incredibly low voter turnout, lack of institutional memory, lack of transparency, rampant cronyism, etc. The root of these problems mainly lies in what you identify as one of the two main objectives of student government: distributing student fees.

The student fee structure creates perverse incentives. Since the majority of the fees support student programs, these programs are often the most involved (and most interested) in student government. What this leads to is programs being locked into what they see as a zero-sum game, competing to secure funding for their groups and political viewpoints.

Donald Downs, a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, wrote an essay a little while back describing the problems the mandatory fee structure creates. He concluded:

Empirical inquiry is called for to ascertain what is actually going on in the trenches of student organization politics. And more formal supervision is needed to ensure that [...] abuse does not occur. Such supervision is needed because, as I remark above, political motivation is intense, and where large amounts of money exist to be spent, temptation is often just around the corner.

I would echo Down’s argument for examining and possibly restructuring student fees. Other than that, the most important issue is institutional memory. There is no transition period for student governments, and you don’t exactly have to be Tocqueville to see the problem with bringing in a green group of 20 year-olds every year to manage millions of dollars.