SGC 0 Group With a Lost Mission A Council Member Visions Two Roles Still Open to the Organization By DAVID KESSEL THIS ARTICLE is about the Student Government Council -its character(s), its problems, and perhaps its future. It is not a defense of, or an at- tack upon the group. It is an at- tempt at analysis from within, in- stead of the usual criticism from without. The point of view represented here is necessarily that of one in- dividual; it is not the result of the deliberations by any commit- tee for evaluating or re-evaluat- ing student government. STUDENT government, on this campus, would seem to be in ani advantageous position. Recog- nized by the Board of Regents, consulted by faculty and adminis- tration, its most every move re- ported by The Daily, authorized to regulate a large section in the realm of student affairs, SGC ,seems to have capabilities to burn. Sometimes, it looks as if most of these capabilities have already been burned, with the remainder badly singed. So the question arises: has stu- dent government become a fruit- less and sterile activity, attracting each year fewer try-outs than any other "major" campus activity? Has it become the "club" of a lim- ited group of power and prestige- hungry people who make the SGC offices their club-house, the SGC Plan their Bible, SGC election night their "Sacre du Printemps?" IT IS unfortunately true that the control of student government has fallen into the hands of a small group of people, mostly by default. But as fewer qualified, in- formed, and talented students show any interest in this activity, it naturally follows that student government becomes filled with less qualified, less informed, less talented people, and suffers ac- cordingly. Election campaigns are prepos- terous, with incredible statements tossed off everywhere, and a pa- thetic lack of audience response all around. During the show last April, the twenty-odd candidates spoke their lines to m o s t l y disinterested groups who could hear speakers profess to be "running on a Pan- hel-IFC ticket" without a shudder. Within my recollection, only at Martha Cook were candidates giv- en any sort of meaningful ques- tioning, and most of them were d e v a s t a t e d. But the Martha Cookies were the exception, and apathy was the rule. I David Kessel was elected to the Student Govern men-t Council last March. An Important Night at SGC: Sigma Kappa Still in Violation So various Charlie McCarthy's (and Mortimer Snerds) roamed about talking about high cost of living, bad dormitory food, schol- arships, bicycle problems, Sigma Kappa, Deans of Women and dis- crimination. pHE ELECTION seemed to be a test of ballot stuffing skill. After the election, four thous- and voters forgot about their duly elected representatives for anoth- er six months, and eight new leaders of student opinion were seated on the Council. Three were new to the group, five were from the "gang;" they had been active in the student government game before. Curiously enough, this new SGC was somewhat unlike the past group. And as, one by one, the ex- officio members were replaced, it soon became evident to critical observers that the new SGC was a distinct cut above the old. Some claimed that this was be- cause the group could hardly have gotten much worse. But whatever the reason, it seemed that much of the old "club" routine was gone, and that things were looking up for student government. THINGS must look up a great deal more if SGC is ever to become the campus force it ought to be. Certainly, on this campus, there are a great many students who could revolutionize student gov-1 ernment; make it a really vitalJ and productive organization, ca- pable of helping create a better: educational community for us all. But these people are not inter- ested. At times, it seems that no one is really interested except for some Daily writers and a few hopelessly overburdened SGC members. The Council itself is partly re- sponsible for this situation be- cause of the manner in which it has adopted a sort of junior-grade spoils system. From time to time, the Council appoints people to various com- mittees, and to vacancies on the Council itself, Until recently, Council vacancies were always filled by members of the "appoint- ments pool," a small group of camp followers who have shown great interest, although not neces- sarily much talent, in the leader- ship game. This dismal trend was recently reversed with the appointment of an "outsider" to a Council vacan- cy. But most other appointments invariably go to loyal workers; a fine reward for faithful service, to be sure, but hardly the way to get capable outsiders into the government structure. L AST SUMMER, the University sent about 14 people to some- thing called the National Student Association Congress. Most of these people were ap- pointed on the basis of their years of long and faithful service under the purple and orchid banner of student government. The result: a delegation of half- informed people who, at a cost of several hundred dollars, had a jolly good vacation for 10 days and, with one significant excep- tion, accomplished just exactly nothing. It must hastily be added that some of the students appointed to various groups by the Council have been quite satisfactory. Some have been exceptional. But this practice of blindly filling positions with the nearest friend at hand is long out of date, T7HE RELATIONSHIP between student government and the administration has been rather close in the past; now this too U changing. There are members of the ad- ministration group who see every decision by SOC as an encroach- ment on their own sphere of power. There are University offi- cials who see student government as a dangerous force which must be kept fairly harmless and powerless, lest it somehow upset she University applecart. There seems to be growing lack of trust of SGC by the administration, parallelling a lack of interest by students. The reasons for this condition are many; here is what seems to be the most important one: SGC does not, for the most part, represent student opinion evitably won by the Universlty administration, with students los- ing something as a result. But since they don't care, perhaps they won't notice. The statements above are a trifle extreme, to be sure. Many of them verge on -the indefensible. But there is a shred of truth in all of them, if one looks closely. INDIVIDUAL members of SGC almost defy analysis. Here are some of -the usual campus snap- judgments, which are later modi- fied or refuted. 1) SGC officers (and most members) cannot be said to "play" at being administrators. Whey work hard at it. 2) About the only people who take SOC meetings seriously are 18 people sitting around a table, and not always even them. 3) Most men join SGC so that they can call any sorority, even on weekends, and find some im- pressionable girl to "take out." 4) Most women join SGC to ex- pend energies which other women expend on the sofas of Stockwell lounge. 5) SGC was not created to ful- fill a real need (as were Panhel and IFC), but was created to give a few people some political ex- perience at the expense-of every- one else. 6) If SGC should suddenly dis- appear, all its functions could be given to two secretaries and an IBM machine and no one would be unhappy. '7) If all the projects SGC has started and never finished (e.g., honor system, course evaluation handbook, more precise marking system, campus chest, etc., etc.,) were stacked one on top of the other, the pile would reach high- er than Bu r t o n Tower but wouldn't sound nearly so good. 8) The people who started all these unfinished projects were much more interested in getting their names attached to some pos- sibly worthwhile idea than in do- ing any of the necessary work.- ONLY A few of these snap judgements can stand without some real modification. SGC officers (and most mem- bers) do indeed work hard at be- ing administrators. This is partly because it is impossible for most people to keep much of a sense of proportion under the various and assorted pressures SGC mem- bers are usually up against. A somewhat less obvious rea- son: Council members who find that they are not great sources of new and startling ideas (like they had hoped) naturally turn to the role of administrators and spend much time worrying about when to calendar J-Hop, bucket drives, and how to keep bicycles off the League front steps. SGC IS NOT much of a prestige organization, in spite of much opinion to the contrary. Anyone who has the idea he can join the Council and become, overnight, a social lion with party invitations dropping into his nailbox like small fish drop into the mouth of a hungry whale Is in for a big surprise. Anyone who wants to join the Council so he can call any sorority or dormitory at any time and say to the first girl who answers the phone: "I'm Mortimer Snerd of SGC. Who wants to spend a gay weekend at my cabin in the north woods" is simply out of his mind. For the most part, when people learn that Mortimer is an SGC man, they react much the same as if they had learned that he had just won three truckloads of bean sprouts on a TV quiz pro- gram: with some interest, but not much admiration. If all SOC's functions were giv- en to some administration bu- reaucrat, it would be amusing to see how fast the situation would See SGC, Page 13 Crea(tive Spark Artist's Role Depends on What He Is Allowed To ( By DAVID GUILLAUME ARTISAN PRODUCTS - The three- photographs above show different types of art in which the emphasis is on the usefulness of the object rather than its abstract beauty. To the primitive artist the cave painting has as much validity as the object portrayed. The vase (center) is an example of applied art, an idea introduced by the Greeks. USEFUL ART-The worker wh worked without great concern f "a good chair" or "a poor chair" society in which he lived. for a SGS's Actions .. . THE ROLE of the artist is a question of primary social con- cern inasmuch as the artist and his contributions to, and com- mentaries on, society constitute the focus, testing ground and point of dissemination for much, often most, of a society's creative efforts. The role of the artist depends largely on the quality of the social contribution he is allowed or en- couraged to make; and the degree of acceptance and permissiveness evinced by the society will inevit- ably affect the artist's function- ings and contributions. The basic differences of the ar- tist from the generality of man- kind are ones more of attitude than craft and are to be found in the activity (not reserved for art practitioners alone) known as the creative process. This process-looked on askance by many, misunderstood by most,, elusive of the categorizers codifi- cation (but probably inherent to some degree in everyone)- is fundamentally an aggressive curi- osity unqualified by stereotypes, and a power of observation both naive (in that it is fresh each time it is exercised) and profound (in that it is a combination of high intellect and broad human under- standing). Not all art-practition- ers possess this quality to a high degree any more than all persons engaged in business .are capable of managing a large corporation, nor is every member of the mili- tary capable of high-level strategy. rHE NURTURE and guidance -of creative attitudes and activi- ties is one of the most vital oc- cupations of any society: without the development of these creative activities the society stagnates, and without some guidance toward goals and expressions suitable to the perpetuation and enhance- ment of the society, the society is in danger of drastic change, even destruction. The creative attitudes, then, are the basic quality of the artist. It is the basic quality also of any other individual regardless of his field who is creating rather than copying orsimply re-arranging. The fundamental quality of cre- ativity finds its expression in any of a number of areas or forms de- pending on how the individual has been trained and what areas of expression are socially acceptable and rewarded in his society. It is David Guillaume teaches art education in the architec- ture college. He is working for his Ph.D. in education. very possible to be schooled in the manipulation of materials of one sort or another and yet be al- most totally uncreative. Such an individual may become a fine craftsman but not an artist in the sense discussed here. 110 DISCUSS the artist's role it would be well to examine the role of art in society, and, to facil- itate this, divide societies into simple and complex. In a simple society, the world is viewed as a whole-distinctions between animate and inanimate, physical and mental, actual and ideational are recognized only vaguely if at all. The elements of existence are expressions of, inte- gral parts of, a single unity. The ancient Chinese, for ex- ample, held that humanity (dead and alive) and the spirit world were interdependent - the mal- functioning of any single compo- nent could jeopardize the ordering of the entire system. This notion led to strict traditions of propriety and correct behavior, in the man- ner of Confucius. st The complex societies, starting with the Greek culture, view the world as a series of independent entities which interact one with another. Thus, science, art, philos- ophy, religion are seen as separate entities, independent and autono- mous. Simple societies are not ex- clusive, whereas complex societies are segmented and, often, exclu- sive. TH1E DISTINCTION between these two ways of viewing the world are basically important to all phases of thinking and reason- ing, and directly influence the role art and the artist will play. Art for- the simple society em- bodies the actuality of the idea or thiug discussed: the symbols of the sand painting, for example, are identified with the ideas rep- resented. In complex socieles the art expressions are a discussion about the thing or idea portrayed. In the simple society the artisan role is that of the producer of goods of utility: distinctions as to the validity or worth of function among a poi pounder, canoe prow, statuette, or mask are not made- all are a part of meaningful living, and the art connotations are as important as (are, in a sense, the same as) the things and ideas made or expressed. In such a society the artisan is rewarded and accepted to the de- gree to which he fulfills his func- tions. There is no separation of the artisan or his products from the needed utilitarian sphere of life. The artisan-craftsman of such a simple society may be said to cor- respond, in the degree of his inte- gration in his culture. to that of the skilled worker in our complex society, to the riveter, carpenter, airplane pilot. This does not imply that the artisan is the same as any other individual in the simple society; rather, his role is accepted as is that of any other producer of use- ful goods. Various occupational idiosyncracies are recognized, but recognized as being no more than similar occupational idiosyncracies imposed by the nature of the role- functions of other members of the society: the farmer's overalls, <4 Lots of Publicity on this campus. There is no stu- dent opinion. What SCC does represent is "student leader" opin- ion. But "student leaders" are es- sentially junior administrators, so they clash with University admin- istrators on some questions. Since junior administrators are almost: always more liberal, quicker to experiment, less likely to be tra- ditionalists than senior admini.s- trators, a clash is inevitable. ACCORDING to a dean who, I am certain, would rather not be named here, college adminis- trators are sometimes "long on "tradition and short on brains." So the lines of battle are clearly drawn; a battie which will be in- ART FOR THE STATE -- These two photographs shlw examples of art created as a reflection of the state, social or religious powegroup under which the artist iv. . *In effect an employee of a particular power group. Election Night: "Sacre da Printemps?"