Rider University - Shadow Yearbook (Lawrenceville, NJ)

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Finnegan, Atkinson Two Presidents With Diverse Personalities But The Same Goal ln Mind by Debra Opdycke John Finnegan, student government president. Tom Atkinson, student government president. Rider had two SGA presidents this year. Finnegan graduated in January. Atkinson is a junior. Both share the same political views and values. How- ever, one believes in discussion and the changing of ideas through talking, while the other is more of an ac- tivist. As Atkinson says, John's more of a diplomant than me. Finnegan looks toward the future. ln the reorganiza- tion of the Student Senate and the adoption of the new constitution, which is yet to come, he sees the empha- sis in planning for future Student Government Associations. Five years from now they fthe SGAJ shouldn't have to say 'lt should have been done that away', he said. According to Finnegan, each dormitory is a little de- mocracy and should be run as such. There are 35 of them, each with their own governing body. There are certain guidelines that are set up and must be met. But there must also be people in the dorms with new ideas, and there must be those with open minds willing to discuss their differences and work them out among themselves, he says. There must be better communications between the dif- ferent campus factions. They must be aware of each other's needs, according to Finnegan. Because when actions go beyond a small group, they infringe on the rights of others and take away their freedom and strain their relationships. Under the new system, in the new constitution of the SGA, the president of the SGA would delegate author- ity. Others would take care of the chores, freeing the president to get out and talk to the people and try to change ideas and deal with the problems personally, Finnegan said. Instead of the present 30 hours spent in working on the Student Senate, only about eight would be needed. The extra 20 hours or so could be used for getting out and dealing with the problems. This is the ideal Finnegan has now. He feels this should be functioning in five years. The new executive committee under the new system would consist of the president, vice president, treasurer and four senators. These are the people that the president could delegate to handle any problems or situations as he sees fit. Finnegan already sees one area where he feels there could be better communications and that is in the area of minority groups. l could use one of the senators in this area to better keep me in touch with the minority groups on campus. l want to know how the minority groups think and feel. I think that by establishing this channel of communication, it would set a precedent and make future SGA presidents think and see that maybe they should be working in that direction too, Finnegan says. Going along with the idea of discussion, Finnegan be- lieves that one of the reasons that the strike last year 90 during the Cambodian invasion failed on the Rider campus was because it was not totally explained to the students in clear terms. When you have large groups such as we had, you have to follow it up with small group discussions and make sure that people under- stand the situation. In the large group situation, Finnegan feels, you'll al- ways have factions that disagree, but you have to ar- gue until either one side at least begins to see the other side and understand. Those that were against the strike didn't state their reasons why they were, or at least even try to. They should have tried to maybe convince us that we were wrong, or we should have done a bet- ter job of convincing them that they were wrong. The strike last year dealt with three demands-getting out of Cambodia and Vietnam and Southeast Asia in general and ending all intervention, ending domestic repression and exploitation, and ending all military inter- vention on campuses. The Rider student body endorsed only the first de- mand and by so doing alienated the black students on campus and caused them to walk out of the mass rally which was held to vote on the strike. Finnegan blames the situation on the fact that ex- planations weren't good enough and also that both blacks and whites are racists and are prejudiced toward each other, as he puts it. During the explanations, we didn't hit all the aspects of domestic repression. The white students felt that only the blacks were involved and that turned many of them off. We thought that black domestic repression was the most blatant, so we used that as an example but we realize now that that was a mistake. Also, the students at Rider have a certain frame of reference which does not allow them to accept all we had to say, Finnegan said. They are, for the most part, first generation college students. Their parents are trying to give them more than what they had. They have this idea that they have to accept many things that are given to them and they look at things in a certain frame of reference. Also, Finnegan blames the failure of the strike on the fact that when no grades were on the line, the people worked better but once the decision was in for optional finals, the kids started going down the shore and just generally goofing around. They had nothing to lose af- ter that, he said. But the strike is the past now. Finnegan is presently working for more student involvement in the policies of the College. Students should be involved in all areas of the College. While the students cannot really work out some things because of their lack of knowledge in cer- tain areas, they can make judgements and evaluations regarding priorities, he feels. lf someone would sit down and explain things to us, such as the budget, maybe we could better understand some of the things. Then maybe we could actively par-

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ticipate in the making of College policy. After all, we are paying for our education here, we should know where the money is going and what we're getting. Finnegan blames the administration for many of the campus problems. Administrations are the usual scape- goats, however, in student gripes. But Finnegan sees Dr. Elliott CFrank N., president of the collegej in particular as the cause for some of the problems. Some of the decisions last year during the strike could have caused some violence. The difference among the students exists only in the minds of some people, Finnegan said. lf they would look at students as a group, then maybe they would see the common ground. You must see the source and then deal with the problem and you can't see the source unless you look at the total community. What some of the adminis- trators are doing here is turning student against stu- dent. They say 'Look at the long-haired radicals, the leftists, the blacks on the Student Senate.' People then look and they begin to think that if these people notice this, then maybe there is trouble brewing, Dr. Elliott, I don't think, is too keen on student power or students getting too involved in academics, finances or policy-making at the college, he added. Atkinson, while sharing many of Finnegan's views is more of the push type who wants to see things moving. One of the prime goals of Atkinson's administration is to try to get rid of the student apathy that he sees on the campus. This year it's really bad. We have to get out and get them moving and open the channels of communication so that they don't feel they're being left out. This is the year that could make or break student government on the campus. lf we don't get better stu- dent activism, then we may find ourselves without a real i ll, I N l Vi.