Ask incoming Welfare Secretary Claressa Wong what she hopes to change or improve in SMU and she tells you that it is the mugging culture in SMU that she is concerned with.

“It is not easy to break people out of that culture. I hope that students would make the most of the opportunities they are provided with at SMU there is much to learn from your experiences in non-academic areas such as CCAs and organising events because your university experience is made up of more than the modules you take. I aim to help my peers see that,” she muses.

That is one area she hopes to contribute to in addition to her other responsibilities such as providing student name tents and welfare packages. Upcoming welfare issues will be routed to her as well. She reveals that she is currently looking into issues such as the changes to the GSR booking policy and the SMU carpark fee revision. Another issues she is looking into is the provision of coffee machines for students’ use.

“SMU has a ‘coffee culture’ and some of my friends have already highlighted their desire for coffee machines,” she notes.

However, the second-year business and economics student did not think she would end up in this role when she put her name down for the elections.

She says: “Initially I ran with just the desire to be part of the Students’ Association. I saw the Students’ Association as an opportunity to help my friends enjoy SMU as much as I had so far, especially when I found out that some of my friends are not enjoying their university life as much as they hope to.”

But she is doing her bit after all as Welfare Secretary and handling student issues nonetheless. Her qualities and past experiences are fitting for her new role.

“I am quite approachable – I meet people and make friends with them easily. Therefore I know quite a number of people in school, and get to hear about issues promptly. Since these students already know me, they will be able to highlight issues that concern them to me without the hassle of going through the formal track. My past leadership roles that I held, and my past experiences in working on a wide range of events will aid me in my role as they enable me to make more informed decisions,” she explains.

Perhaps her election style of providing a “personal touch” would work in tandem with her personal traits and past experiences.

“I chose not to concentrate on putting up posters because I felt there needed to be a more personal touch. How often do you look at a poster and say you’re going to vote for that person because of the poster? So I went for a different approach. I talked to my friends, told them I was running for SA, and they said they would get their friends to vote for me. Even the freshmen in my camps such as FTB and the Economics camp helped me by telling other freshmen to vote for me.”

Claressa feels that communication is an important aspect for the SA Exco. She says that there are a lot of constraints, not only monetary, but also space and time as well as administrative decisions. But the Exco wants to let students know what has been done to handle their concerns and what can or cannot be done.

This aspect of communication will fall into the hands of the Communications Secretary who will be in-charge of communicating with the school through emails, and possibly Facebook and Twitter. In the pipeline is a SMUSA blog which will act as feedback mechanism – an interactive portal where students can leave their comments on any issue.

“We love having suggestions from students, and I think it’s good that students are speaking up and thinking of solutions to problems. I hope this continues so that together, we will be able to come up with better solutions,” she says.

That said, she also hopes students would be aware of existing constraints when highlighting issues because in providing solutions, these constraints are have to be taken into consideration.

The key for SMUSA is to paint a picture of what can and cannot be done when it attempts to solicitation of feedback from students – it’s a two-way communication process to improving student life.

Flaws in the BOSS bidding system, bidding habits of students, inflation of modules and the lack of pre-assigned modules are some of the various factors that contribute to problems with respect to the bidding of modules.

This was revealed by outgoing SMUSA President Rachel Kok in an exclusive interview with The Blue and Gold. She said that there is no one clear solution to this problem and the approach to solving it would be one of trial-and-error.

But a key step in the right direction will be taken to tackle this. Rachel reveals that the system of pre-assigned modules would be back in place.

“This was one area that the SA had pushed for. We took the issue a bit further and during one of our meetings with President Hunter, we mentioned it to him and the kind of distress it causes to students. He took action on our feedback and made some changes,” she said.

Find out which areas the outgoing President of SMUSA thinks her Exco did well as well as her reflections of the past year in the January 2010 issue of The Blue and Gold.

Google, in an attempt to solve this problem, has created a web-based collaborative office suite named Google Docs. While it may not boast all of that rich and extensive functionality found in Microsoft Office, they have attempted to rethink what a modern office suite can accomplish with the power of the Internet. In this issue, we will take a look at how Google Docs can change your (project) life, dramatically increase productivity, and never have to worry about saving files ever again.

Say goodbye to “version 1.635 9:45pm”-esque file names
With Google Docs, you do not save your files into your own computer. Instead, from the moment you create a new document and start typing away in the Docs web interface, your document is automagically saved on Google’s servers. You can forget about saving, because Google does it for you behind-the-scenes. If your laptop decides to stop working that day, you can simply go to another computer with an Internet connection, log back in to Google Docs, open your document and continue where you left off. When the submission deadline approaches, you can easily export it out of Google Docs as an ordinary Microsoft Office document, ready for your Professor to grade.

The killer feature of Google Docs, however, is collaboration. As your work is saved online, Google Docs allows you to add fellow collaborators – other people to edit the same document you are working on, simultaneously. There is a big blue “Share” button on the upper right side of the interface where you can invite people as viewers or collaborators. Once that is done, you can watch as other people start editing the document in (barring a few seconds of lag) real-time.

Obviously, this feature goes a long way towards eliminating the ad-hoc versioning of documents while working in teams. There will no longer be a need for someone to take disparate bits of a report or slides and compile them together. Everyone will edit the same document and see what others are doing to it at the same time. Meeting notes and minutes can be taken and reviewed on the spot while the meeting is going on.

For the paranoid, Google also has thoughtfully built in the ability to look at previous revisions of a document. A couple of clicks is all it takes to revert a document back to its earlier version if someone messes it up.

Get into form
We are all familiar with this scenario. You’re in a small CCA and the members want to go for a nice outing (or bonding session, as most would call it). The person with the most initiative starts the email thread, asking everyone when they would prefer it, where they should go, and what should be the activity (flying kites at Marina Barrage is the hot favourite nowadays, I gather). Replies start flowing in, people start voting in the email thread, some Mac user messes up the Outlook-style reply indentation format, and very soon you get the annoying “your mailbox is over its size limit” message from the friendly CIT folks.

There is a better solution to this – and it’s called Google Forms. Part of Google Spreadsheets (which itself is part of Google Docs), it allows you to create your own form and automatically fill up a spreadsheet from whatever your users enter into the form.  You can use it for event registration, surveys, or the aforementioned CCA outing planning. You get a nice spreadsheet with the results just perfect for analysis, and your users don’t have to battle email spam.

Offisync
It goes without saying that for some uses, Office is simply better. There’s a reason why they charge an arm and leg for the software suite. There’s no cause for concern, because you can now get the best of both worlds with an Office plug-in called OffiSync. Currently in active beta status, OffiSync installs itself as a tab in the Office Ribbon interface and allows you to save and open documents in Google Docs. Of course, for the Google Docs-only features like collaboration, you have to do it in the Docs interface itself. Think of this as a backup of all your Office documents onto Google Docs, and the ability to edit them in Docs whenever you need to.

Try Google Docs at http://docs.google.com (Google or Gmail account required)
Try OffiSync at http://offisync.com

After scanning email after email with a title ”fund raising”, I become sort of apathetic .”People are suffering, let’s come together to make a difference. Our donation box is placed at…” It seems that they can do nothing more than to set up a booth and sell candy bars. If one is truly committed to helping out another, would it be too difficult to ask for more effort to source for donations creatively?

The three common projects done in this manner are calamity relief, OCIPs and LTB projects. For calamity relief and OCIPs, groups sell bangles, T-shirts, chocolates, chips, donuts, and an assortment of other snacks, while for LTB projects (since they are usually rushed for time) utilise the direct donation method. These tactics are usually then executed by roaming teams of students, who go around knocking on doors of GSR’s and setting up booths in ‘high-traffic’ areas to ‘promote’ their project. If you happen to be ‘caught’, you develop a sense of guilt and you feel bad if you refuse to donate. The more enthusiastic the ‘promoter’, the bigger the guilt and hole in your wallet. Simply put, the organisers behind these repetitions are too lazy to try out innovative fund raising ideas.

I personally think that the organisations and project groups should not limit themselves to such tactics. They should take a bigger step and donate more of their effort and time towards the cause. It is neither feasible to hold a fund-raising event in school on big scale nor possible to get celebrities to do stunts, but we should not be stopped from holding events or basic culture appreciation nights. Let us take a recent calamity relief project to aid the victims of Typhoon Ketsana. There is more than enough to talk about when we think of the Philippines, but the organizers’ efforts were limited to setting up a donation box outside Pick & Bite. Did they consider having a Filipino food party or Filipino movie night?

There are some other interesting ideas they could consider in order to involve those who were previously not interested in donating – not by “begging” but by “attracting”. For example events and workshops which are beneficial to students can be organised. Part of the entry fee collected for these workshops can be used to cover the cost while the rest goes to the donation box. In addition to workshops, organisers can arrange movie nights, pillow parties and dance competitions.

Faculty can even be involved to make fundraising fun for everyone. They can have staff pledge to do some stunts such as to shave off their hair, or wear stupid costumes once donations hit a certain level.

Although these suggestions may be effective, they are time consuming. But the benefit of holding events, workshops and other entertaining activities will give students more motivation to participate and let them know about the projects. While the initiatives may not directly result in donations, students will be affected eventually through these activities and finally realise the importance of their charitable acts.

Kai Lam, a performance artist, thinks that SMU offers a fresh perspective towards the world of art. And that in itself is a unique opportunity.

He says: “It’s interesting that it’s happening outside of the art context. Unlike when you go to art school and people all have preconceived notions, I think the mentality is very different (in SMU).”

The SMU-ASEAN Artist Residency Programme is organised by SMU’s Office of Student Life (OSL) in partnership with The Substation to give students better insights and get them involved the world of visual arts. It also aims to expose students at SMU to a wider array of experiences outside of the school curriculum.

While the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports and the National Youth Council are also helping to fund the event, the residency programme also runs parallel to SMU’s upcoming 10th anniversary which features an Arts fest. Both events will help bring out the vibrant culture of SMU.

The programme started on July 13 this year and will continue until January 2010. During this span of time, SMU will showcase nine contemporary artists and Kai is one of the nine artists participating in this ongoing artist residency programme.

For the past 10 years in Singapore’s art industry, Kai Lam has travelled extensively as a performing artist. One of his notable works includes a performance at the Singapore Art Museum where he placed Vietnamese and Singaporean art books into a washing machine, blending them into a pulp. The laundering of the art books was to symbolise the fusion of Singaporean and Vietnamese art, as well as the harmonious relations between the countries. Indeed his works border on being politically-charged at times.

This time round, while deciding on what he would produce during his residency programme, Kai Lam kick-started his residency with a sound walk. As part of his effort to involve others with his art, he conducted a procession for participants to walk in total silence, where they had the opportunity to observe the sights and sounds from their surroundings. While not being sure of the kind of effect his work will bring to the participants, he describes it as “a way to explore our senses”.

For all of the nine artists who will be part of the artist residency programme, their experience in SMU is going to be a challenging one. Being in a business-oriented school like SMU, the artists will find themselves void of many art facilities familiar to them. The nine artists will churn out and explore ideas from two studios that have been prepared for them as their art space.

But according to OSL Manager Khairuddin Bin Hori, there’s no real pressure on the artists. “The idea is just for them to hang out (at their studios).” By design, this programme is itself unique enough, as students won’t just get to see art work all the time, but instead the people who produced them. “It’s for people to have real relationships with the artist, not just to see their artwork and not know who they are,” he adds.

Kai Lam believes that his residency in SMU will be a good process for him to see what he can do as an artist. He adds that it would be “nice to have some students working with him in the near future”.

For students interested to get to know Kai Lam or the rest of the artists, they can check out the two studios where the artists will hang out which are located next to the dry cab (opposite CIT), and next to the clinic at the T-Junction. Artists from other regional countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia will be involved in this initiative as well.

Among the ideas in the pipeline is to have artists become mentors to students who are interested to participate in next year’s arts fest. Conceptual artist Zack Razak is planning to collaborate with some students for his work.

For those who are interested in the art industry, the artist residency programme is a great way of getting up close and personal with contemporary artists right in the heart of the SMU Concourse.

When Obama was first swept into office, one of the first few pledges he made was to come up with a comprehensive healthcare plan and to ensure that all Americans are protected adequately.

The proposed healthcare bill has been a messy process, thwarted by vetted interests, a lot of arguing and shouting between Democrats and Republicans, a ballooning trillion dollar government deficit and occasionally a heckler or two.

Healthcare – The facts
The costs of healthcare in America are by far one of the most expensive in the world, with an estimated expenditure of US$6,096 per capita in 2004 according to a 2007/2008 UNDP Human Development Report. Comparatively, Singapore spends US$1,118 instead.

There is no specific reason as to why healthcare costs are sky-high; rather, the reasons are many and inexplicably linked. But one of the largest reason is that healthcare is an industry owned by the private sector, with little intervention from the government. In other words, there is no nation-wide healthcare plan available to the general public from the government. Thinking in terms of the Singapore context, there is no American equivalent of our Medishield plan, or polyclinics for that matter. Ineveitably, without subsidies from the government, the cost of healthcare would be much higher.

One of the main reasons the government took so long to respond to the rising costs of healthcare was because the healthcare insurance industry took care of the problem. Insured Americans were able to afford such healthcare because they were backed up by insurers. Slightly more than half of American citizens are insured by their employers, a reminder of the strong power unions and employees had over employers. But that is something that seems to be fading quickly into the past. Increasingly, more employers are reluctant to pay for health insurance due to rising premiums and wage inflation. Unfortunately, the average American is unable to afford to purchase their own insurance, with the figure standing at 9%.

What is clear is that the system of the non-regulated healthcare industry has led to Americans having to pay more for their healthcare which worked previously due to employers purchasing insurance is breaking down slowly.

Obama’s super healthcare plan- The principles
A key part of Obama’s healthcare plan is to create a public-insurance plan by using the foundations of the current Medicare plan. Medicare only covers certain demographics of the population, namely the young and the elderly, war veterans, disabled and the poor.

The idea is for to use Medicare as a platform for the government to set premiums and services, effectively meaning that the government now becomes a health insurance provider. This is meant to compete with the private insurance companies to force them to offer competitive rates.

However, what both the Democrats and Republicans are in favour of is that the government will clamp down hard on existing private insurance providers, ensuring that premiums are not raised excessively and mandating that no one with a pre-existing illness or medical condition be turned away from getting insurance. In short, existing insurance providers will be monitored closely and regulations will be drafted to ensure that insurance companies provide affordable and adequate coverage.

In addition, Obama has proposed setting up an insurance exchange, a marketplace of sorts where people who are not insured are able to compare existing prices and plans insurers provide, and purchase health insurance at competitive plans.

Yet another critical part of the plan involves cutting costs in the industry through an independent Commission set up by doctors and medical experts to identify wastage, fraud and abuse in the healthcare system, almost like an audit committee of the healthcare system. This committee will be given teeth to cut costs where they deem fit (at least in the government hospitals and schemes such as Medicare), bypassing the problem of the endless bickering from Congress. Additionally, Obama has pledged in his speech to Congress on 9 September that the healthcare reform plan will cost US$900 billion, but the money comes not from raising taxes but from cost-savings measures put in place by the independent Commission. It is a bold step forward to decentralise decision making from Congress, which is good for the healthcare system which cannot afford to wait for people to stop fighting.

The key players (And no, Obama is not one of them)
The main group responsible for drafting the healthcare bill is known as the ‘Gang of Six’. The Senate’s Finance Committee is a bipartisan committee, yet another of Obama’s promise to be as bipartisan as possible, is split evenly between the Democrats and Republicans. The Chairman of the committee Max Bacus (you should do well to remember his name), a Democrat has tried hard to ensure talks are continued despite the deep ideological differences between the two parties on the issue.

Opinions on the effectiveness of the ‘Gang of Six’ are highly varied, tending to be on the negative unfortunately. The Republicans are seen mainly to be the culprits to stall the progress of any deal being cut, particularly Charles Grassley and Mike Enzi. The Democrats have signaled their exasperation by stating they are ready to go ahead with their proposal with Ms Olympian Snowe, the only Republican who has shown support for proposals put forward so far.

The main deadlock on the bipartisan healthcare plan is over the public option, to which the Democrats have signaled their willingness to compromise. In other words, the public option will be dropped. The American public is undoubtedly angry that such a win-win scheme is not being considered and the question many have been asking are why the Democrats are pandering to the whims of the Republicans. If anything, the Democrats actually have the power to pass any bill they want in Senate with the 60 votes they have, (51 votes are required to pass a bill in Senate currently). In theory, they could pass healthcare legislation through the Senate without the Republicans’ support.

Healthcare muddled with politics
The Republicans have been doing nothing but throwing cold water on the reform plan, with accusations of Obama’s proposed independent commission turning into death panels, who decide who gets priority treatment in an effort to cut costs. While such accusations may have some truth, one cannot help but wonder if the Republicans are just trying to stop Obama from championing the change he promised to the American voters.

If anything, the words of the deceased Senator Edward Kennedy who championed healthcare reform tirelessly for years are a stark reminder to all who are caught up in the politicking to step back and reflect, “At stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.”

Obama has stated very plainly that he wants, and needs healthcare reform to be pushed through soon and with the topic at a fever pitch among Americans, this space is certainly worth watching.

He is one of 3,443 students who have done more than 90 hours of community service hours to date according to data from the Office of Career Services (OCS).

“The notion of compulsory community service imposed through ‘compulsory CIP hours’ during our earlier years of education has to change,” said Ashley.

Community service in school
Since its inception in 2000, SMU has implemented a community service program for its students. Modelled after the American system, SMU highly regards the community service program as an avenue for students to attain a holistic education. As part of the program requirement students have to complete at least 80 hours of community service before they are allowed to graduate. While most will gladly do it, OCS notes that there will always be a certain 5% to 10% who will hate it.

One common reason cited by OCS Manager Emily Hogan is failure. When plans fall through due to the lack of experience, students are disappointed. Rejection from public or dull response also leads to students feeling deeply disheartened and sometimes even insulted.

“But students have to learn from it and move on. It makes you a better person only if you learn from it and have a teachable spirit,” she emphasised.

Added Tan Gek Cheng, Assistant Manager, Office of Career Services: “It doesn’t matter if they fail or pass. This is after all a training ground.”

It is hoped that from failures, students can learn to humble themselves and learn from their experience. Only then, can they emerge as a stronger person.

SMU has been promoting this program as a way to encourage the practice of CIRCLE values and at the same time, connect students to their emotional side. Often caught up in the rat race, a strong focus on academic achievements can take a toll on students’ emotional health.

OCS has realised that it is equally important for students to be equipped with ‘heartware’ as a preparation to face challenges in the working world.

“(Students) will crumble if they are not emotionally strong” said Ms Hogan.

She added: “People do not want to admit that this is the differentiating factor of our students. But this shows that our students have a heart and have compassion for the people around them – not being metal-like or devoid of feeling.”

Nine years after the implementation of the program, reception from students have been increasing positive. There has been a steady rise in the number of hours contributed by the student population. As at May last year a total of 4,629 SMU students have given 370,320 hours in community service according to a report in SMU Hub. In fact, recent statistics show that more than 40% of students do more than 80 hours of community service.

Local or overseas?
Community service projects are usually divided into local or overseas projects. Some students have shown much passion by initiating projects to champion their own causes. The vast scope of community service projects targeting social issues like teen pregnancy, gambling and the underprivileged shows students’ engagement to the society. It also highlights awareness of social issues.

Students who have taken part in community service projects or initiated on say such contributions have helped them in more ways than one.

“I have learnt that there are things more important than academic work and making money. Trips overseas have opened my eyes to the inequalities in existence, making school-related stress insignificant. I have seen parents begging incessantly for their children to be entered into our 10-day educational camp, Indian children as young as three years old memorising the alphabet and English nursery rhymes repeatedly to us. To them, we were their only hope. How can I go back to getting focused on that GPA of mine? If we were willing, there are many things we can do to help,” said Denise Lim, leader of Project Kolkata 2008.

Third-year social science student Winnie Su, also thinks that the experience working and learning in a high-performance team is invaluable.

“SMU promotes group projects and most of us probably think that we already have so much teamwork experience. But living with each other for three weeks and running the whole show on our own in a foreign land was vastly different.”

In a straw poll of 42 students on community service some felt that a different approach was necessary instead of making it compulsory.

Said final-year business student Lin Tingwei: “Although it is a win-win situation, it is like putting up a show. The notion of compulsory volunteer work is an oxymoron. It goes against the meaning of volunteerism. Volunteer work (such as community service) should be something that is done at one’s own will and not by force.”

Third-year social science student Pearlyn Yap feels that if community service is made compulsory, the heart would not be present most of the time.

“It gets irritating when people just rush through things just to clear their 80 hours. The good thing is that at least the work gets done. With all these CSP hours, it breeds in students the whole idea that “if I serve you, I will get something back” kind of mentality. But I guess it has to start from somewhere,” she explained.

Encouraging community service within CCA groups
The latest move by OCS is to introduce a new initiative for office bearers in community service centered Co-circular Activities (CCAs). In the past, members of such CCAs could not include their hours contributed in their clubs towards the community service requirement. This was because hours contributed could only be use either for CCA requirements or for the community service programs and not both.

Now, with a new rule implemented, office bearers can gain recognition for their contributions from their 81st hour onwards. This means, the first 80 hours of contribution would be excluded as it is the expected responsibility of an office bearer. After which, contributions would be recognised.

“We hear students’ feedback for improvement but we too, need time to act on them,” said Ms Tan.

The OCS welcomes students’ views and assures that everyone would be given due consideration. Despite this, OCS stands by the policy that they would not compromise on fixed rules. This is to ensure fairness in the system.

Community service makes education in SMU holistic. And that is probably why the American system of university education is built upon that.

Additional reporting by Hu Nian Bo, Ephraim Loy, Shobana Nadaraja, Alexandria Neo, Ankita Prasad, Senthil Sukumar, Owen Tan and Wang Sha.

Everyone knows that a cut in emissions is essential for future sustainability. But when you are rushing to finish a report at 2am, do you honestly care that it took 420kg (a volume equivalent to 650,000 green tea bottles) of carbon dioxide to produce your beloved MacBook Pro?

To many of us here in Singapore, the concept of global warming is as alien as a free GSR in SMU on a weekday. A common belief is that climate change rests solely in the jurisdiction of the government, which has the power to impose environmental mandates. However, this complacency may have severe repercussions.

A report published by the Institute of Public Policy Research stated that the rationing of carbon emissions among individuals may become necessary if present policies fail to curb the rising carbon levels. Can you imagine if your electricity and gas usage is rationed like food? It is improbable, but not impossible.

As the risk of abrupt and irreversible shifts in climate increases, every minute spent arguing over saving the planet raises the cost and ambition of contingency actions. Since the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, international climate change negotiations have often been stormy and fraught with deadlocks. A lack of trust between developed and developing countries, the wide range of greenhouse-gas emitting activities and the unanswered question over who should bear the largest cost of climate maintenance provide ample ground for stalemates.

The difficulty of regulating climate change lies in the fact that it is a global public good. Long-term commitment of all nations is required, but as the benefits are uncertain, it is difficult to attain an adequate level of commitment to address climate change. International agreements begin to unravel when countries refuse to participate, and emission production gets shifted to these countries leading to carbon leakage.

As scientists increase their demands for greater emission cuts under the mantra that “inaction is inexcusable”, there is an increased pressure on the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to deliver a concrete and effective response to the threat of climate change. Tensions are mounting over whether a viable plan will emerge from a decade of ineffective plans as well as increasing pressure on the Obama administration to show its seriousness and commitment in combating climate change.

As time is quickly running short, simply burying our heads in the sand and ignoring the state of carbon emissions spells disaster. It is time for us to shape up and act, before personal carbon rationing becomes an irreversible part of our lives.

Vivace, or CCA Day as what other schools might call it, is a matchmaking session for the 100 and over clubs and societies in SMU. Traditionally, it is also a day where the Concourse becomes suffocating and, by all accounts, impossible to walk through. These are merely the views of the author, but by and large it seemed that this Vivace was different. Different, yes, with no pun intended, is not what Vivace should be. The problem with this Vivace was that it wasn’t exceedingly crowded. Now, you might think of it as a good thing, since it would have been easier to walk (and, certainly, easier to breathe), but from a macro perspective it’s certainly strange, when you look at the demographics.

Year on year, SMU admits a record number of freshmen into its campuses, and class sizes have conspicuously grown larger. Interestingly, there has been no corresponding increase to the following: the attendances at Vivace, the subsequent attendances of most CCAs, and the number of chairs in seminar rooms. It may not be as worrying to run out of chairs in school – but it certainly is to run out of passion.

The falling attendance in Vivace is merely one of several symptoms, not noticeable to most freshmen, but seniors. Taking into account once more the year-on-year increase in enrolment, we have not matched that to the number of people looking to get elected into constituent bodies (CBds). Fewer people are looking to be elected into the Students’ Association Executive Committee (SA Exco) than the previous year.

Are we not caring enough to join associations and organisations anymore? I look back at myself as a freshman in 2008 and wonder if I had ever thought I would write an article like this. Students who do not participate in these civic activities probably cite “priorities” as a reason, but do “priorities” ultimately matter most? I would like you to know that I am very much a believer in studies – my only concern is in why students are placing such an excessive emphasis on it and not on anything else. External pursuits matter as much as the textbook theories – and I am not talking about sports. Meeting people, talking to them, stimulates your intellect and in the long term, builds relationships that you may never have the chance when you go to work next time.

Think about something that you’ve always wanted to do – and it is likely that it would be the pursuit of something apart from academic achievement, or “priorities”. Learn something different, it has been said in psychology, and you’ll find it easier to learn something new in the future. Join a society, says sociology, and it is likely that you will benefit from the “strength of weak ties”, or what others term as “networking”.

In short, do something – and the world, including you, benefits from your participation. Don’t neglect your studies just yet, but never forget to broaden your horizons.

“Because the students need to know” – that is the tagline adopted by The Blue and Gold.

This author recommends that it should be tagline adopted by all elected student representatives, namely – the SMUSA Exco, the Excos of constituent bodies (CBds) and in particular, the Students’ Association Council (SAC), which is the highest student body representing student interests.

Currently, there is an endemic lack of transparency and accountability at all levels in our elected student bodies. Except for the commendable emailers from SMUSA President Rachel Kok publicising what SMUSA has been doing, the rest of our student representatives have been silent throughout their terms.

No minutes of any of the general meetings are uploaded for access and scrutiny. No emails providing information about what is happening behind the scenes of negotiation with the school administration. Little publicity on what new initiatives are being considered – except for the one-time SMUSA Students’ Feedback Survey. In a nutshell there has been little sustained effort in using other avenues in the solicitation of feedback.

Future Excos might want to channel their energies into addressing this serious problem that has been left unaddressed by their predecessors. It is serious not only because nothing has been done about it thus far, but because of the resulting consequences.

Communication
Firstly, increasing transparency and widening the different forms of communication channels can help generate new solutions, initiatives and help improve overall student life.

No one person or group can monopolise creative thinking. A plurality of different views and opinions should be sought from the rest of the student population when approaching problems in school that everyone shares.

Instead, after asking for our votes during election and after the relationship is sealed with their successful election, our elected student representatives seem to lose interest very quickly in communicating with the constituents who gave them the mandate in the very first place.

It seems that they would rather hibernate in their respective rooms, planning and organising for the next big event that is along the way. The communication in the relationship is lost.

One does not need a marriage counselor to remind us that while planning and organising for beautiful anniversaries are important and definitely much appreciated, communication within a marriage is crucial.

Secondly, increased communication can allow constituents to better understand the functions of elected student bodies/organisations and generate more interest amongst competent people to stand for elections when the time comes.

In this author’s view, when one takes office, there are two immediate concerns: How to do your job well and, how to nurture a talent pool to take over you to ensure continuity and success. After all, we do not want our hard work to go to waste.

Over the long term, when people know what is being done and how things function, transparency can breed support and even appreciation from fellow school mates about the tough realities of the job. Non-transparency can only create harm and distrust.

At the end of the day, transparency and sufficient communication between students and their elected student representatives can only be a good thing. If done properly, active and enthusiastic communication channels can improve student life and generate understanding and appreciation for the job.

Accountability
But, most importantly, transparency of information allows us to hold our elected student representatives accountable for their actions or inactions.

How do we know who is actually really doing something and who is not?

For example, recently a member was removed from office in a vote of no confidence passed by the SMUSA Exco.

Yet the SAC did not deem it to be serious enough to inform the general student population on the developments before such a drastic measure was taken and did not explain the reasons for taking action.

Perhaps it is time for a reminder that student leaders are ultimately responsible to the entire student population. Elected student representatives hold a mandate for office and are vested with power from the electorate to carry out functions in their respective offices. Any lack of communication with the electorate ultimately undermines its own legitimacy and will erode the trust that fellow students have in student bodies/organisations. It might also explain the apathy that many students have with our elected student bodies.

There is no need for any marketing campaign to sell our own choices back to us. Just tell us the truth.