Student council is an effective staple of the school. Especially during the first quarter with all the homecoming planning, student council is as important as ever. Some opinions differ, however, with claims that student council doesn’t do anything important for the student body as a whole. These claims are less than accurate.

To attest to the commitment of the members, the class councils have mandatory meetings early every Thursday morning. Meetings are run by the elected president, vice president and faculty adviser for each class. This doesn’t include the constant meetings and planning between Inter-Class Council members. For homecoming week alone, all members came in to decorate the school for hours during the weekend and spent countless morning meetings to divide and conquer the decoration of different sections of the school. All the representatives brainstormed ideas for medieval themes, and then teams of four people decided on one (such as a marketplace) and planned. They scanned websites for the best deals for the school when purchasing the materials, collected boxes, built the scenery, found fake necklaces and fruit and talked to the musical director to ask about props. All this is planned in small, 40-minute increments and carried out outside of school on the students’ own time. Then after this set-up, the students come back on the Saturday morning of homecoming to take everything down and put up an entirely new set of decorations. This clearly dispels any idea that the members aren’t committed or don’t do anything with their time; the proof of the work is right in front of everyone’s eyes. Even seemingly smaller events, like the Halloween Fun Fair or any candy-gram service at lunch has the planning and work of members of student council behind it. In my experience, everyone participates because they care about the school and their jobs, and they volunteer their time for the betterment and fun of the community. All members hope this feeling is worthwhile; direct recognition isn’t always present because it isn’t the point of the work. This may mean less classmates are aware of the work but enjoy what comes of it.

As far as the council is aware, the student body is largely happy with how homecoming is handled. Did you know that Games Day wouldn’t exist without them? This year, the junior members of the council forwent their own participation in the games and cheering with their friends to supervise, announce, referee, run games and commentate, not to mention the Thursday morning meetings that are dedicated to planning the assembly down to the minute.

There is a lot of dispute over the elections themselves and how certain students may not feel like they’re being heard. Students are invited, encouraged and expected to approach student council, especially those higher-ranking officers with more influence, with any concerns, comments or suggestions for the school. This is the purposeful function of an elected student council, to be the voice of the people, especially in planning activities for them. That’s not to say that more outreach can’t be done in situations where a student can’t access a member, which is an important point that has been brought to the council’s attention. This article is being written because a representative was told that students were unhappy. This student council has taken all practical suggestions and incorporated them to the best of our ability, and it is important to remind the student body that while the council is elected to submit the ideas of their peers to the administration in a concrete way, ideas including drastic changes to the uniform policy are not considered rational. On the contrary, if a student doesn’t bring any ideas or concerns to the attention of student council or doesn’t run for election, nothing can be done. No government, student-led or otherwise, could function with the only representation being every single person present in a room, shouting various ideas without a way to filter good from bad, effective from extraneous. Who would make decisions? If it’s a direct democracy with no central leadership, voting by a majority on every decision like they would for an election, then who would facilitate the simplest things like the meetings or gatherings of this large group? That would be a leader, and that leader would then be defying the rules of this leaderless congregation. Where is the accountability of every member to speak their mind or carry out the actions voted upon? That being said, the power of the students lies in the hands of other students. Student council, rather than a regime that needs to be toppled, is a proud and hard-working institution of the school that deserves its support.

Is it really a student council at Saint Viator? Or are the most popular people in each grade making decisions that they think are good without talking to anyone else outside of student council? Is your voice actually being acknowledged, or are the voices of the elected holding more weight than the general student? Student council or student monarchy?

At the end of each school year, people interested in student council apply and are then voted on by their grade. These people go on to make decisions on homecoming and pep rallies, while also representing the wants of their fellow classmates. Is this really the right way to go about expressing the desires of students in each grade? Could there be an alternative where students directly express what they want for student council? Many other student councils around the country have student council groups, or STUCO for short, where those interested from every grade, no matter what activities they’re involved in or who they’re friends with, can be a voice for their grade. These people directly say what they would want for homecoming and pep rallies, and they make up a direct student council instead of a representative student council.

Mrs. JoAnne Francis, director of student affairs and moderator of student council, discusses elective student council.  

“It creates more of a commitment and an accountability,” said Mrs. Francis. “Having an open student council where anyone can show up whenever they want to isn’t efficient in getting things done.”

This is a valid argument, since she would be the one organizing the decorating days and planning homecoming if nobody came to help out with student council activities. Students feel differently, though.

“Does student council even do anything?” asked junior Fiona Conneely.

She raises the question of how effective the representation is of the student body.

“The students as a whole aren’t represented,” said Conneely.  “The goal [of student council] is to represent [the students].”

If it’s the job to represent the students as an elected member, how do unfit candidates make it into student council?

Three students who aren’t on student council say that it is popularity that gets a person elected.

“It’s half those who are popular and half who actually care about student government,” said sophomore James McManus, who is on student council and would be unopposed to an open student council but is afraid it would over-expand.

“If anyone could join, then there would most likely be people that just join to put it on their college applications and not contribute anything,” said sophomore Blaise Russo, a non-student council member. “If there is a decision that comes down to just a few votes, those people may not take it seriously and just put whatever.”

“If students really feel that way, I would want them to take the elections more seriously and elect kids that really do represent them,” said Mrs. Francis. This appears to be the only solace she can give to the students who feel unrepresented.

So like the people of France, could the student body change student council to a better and more fair system? Let’s leave the guillotine and cake out of changing student council but the functioning, fair and unbiased government in.