In response to the blaring staff editorial “Politics as usual” in the Jan. 14 edition of The Hatchet, all I can say is that I am disappointed. Being a member of the Student Association does not get you the pretty girl or a big wad of cash. Being a member of the SA gives people who want to help other students the opportunity to do so. I am not denying that it is overly political. Many times students forget that they are students, not real politicians. But that is what makes the SA great.

I think The Hatchet’s editorial board is not used to seeing something being done by members of the SA since they have been writing editorials at GW, and thus was unsure of how to approach the referendum situation. The election and the referendum to increase representation of freshman changing the judicial system for the better both cost money – often times progress does.

In the SA, you have to force the issue before the administration before action is taken. I can be criticized for not taking the usual channels by writing a resolution, seeing it get tossed aside by administrators, as often times they do, and then writing a referenda to make an issue more public, eventually getting results. The problem is that way takes too long. The direct, forceful approach works better.

Otherwise, the SA is in its best-ever shape. Examples include increasing the times and places student groups can meet, making sign language classes available to students on the Foggy Bottom campus, offering the University an alternative calling plan for students and giving most student groups a minimum 25 percent increase in funds. Most importantly, the administration has been given notice that if they want a fight or if they want to work together with students, then they just have to name a time and place and the SA and I will be there.

-The writer, a junior majoring in criminal justice and psychology, is executive vice president of the SA.