Following the recent budget cuts to student organizations, The Equinox believes student assembly needs to be more transparent with the community it serves. We are hopeful this can happen.
The lack of communication with student organizations and the general campus community has made it extremely difficult for students to stay in the loop about critical legislation that impacts organizations they are involved with and other business of the body.
Between February 2024 and the most recent assembly meeting this month, the body did not post its meeting minutes and it seems it has never posted a single meeting agenda. The assembly’s bylaws require the body to post agendas at least 48 hours before a meeting and post minutes no more than 48 hours after a meeting.
The fact the assembly has failed in this regard throughout the past year is nothing short of disappointing.
During the April 8 meeting of the body, Student Assembly Clerk and junior Brandon Valley explained the reasoning as to why agendas and minutes had not been posted.
Valley, who entered the role in September of 2024, apologized and clarified he was not properly informed of his role’s duties upon becoming clerk and said he will comply with the relevant bylaws going forward.
We applaud and appreciate Valley for displaying honesty and good governance by admitting his mistakes and we hope that as a body the assembly will continue to abide by the rules that govern it.
Despite this, we remain concerned about the seeming lack of training and communication that led to this dereliction of duty and would ask members of assembly to do anything they can to prevent such a failure of governance in the future.
The lack of transparency that has transpired over the past year has not only hurt student organizations but also the KSC community as a whole. The handling of student fee money in particular is a very delicate matter and in terms of the budget process, it is our belief that student organization leadership should be directly informed of votes and hearings that occur that directly impact their organizations.
As a governing body, student assembly must inform the general public of what goes on in its meetings. Legislators are meant to represent their people. Our student body is being poorly represented if the assembly is not responsive to the people it is supposed to represent.
We understand that some members of assembly aspire to run for and occupy roles within local, state or federal government and we encourage them to do so when the time comes, but we also think assembly should serve as a precursor of what to expect in government work and the expectation of transparency in all actions.
The April 8 meeting is the first step in the right direction in what will continue to be an essential piece of student assembly’s mission to step up and effectively represent Keene State College’s student body. We are hopeful for the future given the integrity displayed at the meeting but we will remain mindful of the example this body set for itself this past year.
The Equinox thanks the members of student assembly for displaying willingness to listen to campus community input and to be held accountable when it matters most.
This article has since been updated to reflect junior and KSC Student Assembly Clerk Brandon Valley entered the role in September of 2024. He was not responsible for the posting of meeting agendas or minutes preceding his entering of the role. The Equinox apologizes for this error.
