Ripon College Days

This letter is to respond to the comments made about CSO in the last edition of your paper. While as an editorial it is not obligated to discuss both sides of an issue, the student body deserves to know how the Council of Student Organizations benefits this campus. While I do not wish to respond to each point raised in the last editorial, there are some which require a response.

First, CSO is not designed nor does it exist as a means to exercise undue control over organizations. You assert that CSO interferes with your autonomy. However, Senate is the elected body to which students give the power to set organization's budgets. It would be irresponsible of Senate to dispense funds without providing a means of keeping contact with those organizations. Money can be better spent with cooperation, and Senate can be made more aware of the needs of organizations by having a forum where ALL organizations can talk to each other and a Senate representative. To not do this and have Senate only in contact with organizations if they need a one-fund or during budget hearings is absurd. Senate has the obligation to know what organizations are doing. CSO does not ask anything more than showing up to the meetings. Organization heads should be eager to find ways to cooperate with each other and to have the opportunity to share their agenda with the ear of Senate.

Second, the editorial raised concerns that there were more than the three meetings this semester. It should never be considered a negative that CSO is trying to do more. The CSO carnival for Hurricane relief was an idea that was born from organizations, not the CSO leadership or advisor. This was an unexpected event and demanded time that would have otherwise been used in the normal CSO forum. We should be ashamed if we cannot give our time to causes that fulfill CSO's mission, bringing organizations together to benefit our community.

Moreover, it is important to understand why CSO exists. CSO is not just about the responsibility that Senate has to students, but also, that organizations have a responsibility back to Senate and to the student body. At the heart of CSO is not an obligation but an opportunity for leaders to learn and grow. Much has been made of Senate taking attendance at CSO into account during budgets and one-funds. It is most often the senators who are also organization heads and attend CSO requesting attendance. This suggests that CSO is a positive force. While the College Days may not see the benefit of attending these meetings, there is much they can learn from other organizations and that others can learn from them.

To attack CSO wholesale because you feel you are losing autonomy is ridiculous. Neither Senate nor CSO mandates what you print in your paper. Instead they request that you learn and grow from those around you. Recommendations have been made to improve CSO; energy would be better placed in working with CSO to make it better instead of airing only one side of a story. While you may feel "harassed," "stifled," and "berated," it seems a bit extreme when all that you have been asked is to attend a few meetings as an additional way that you serve this campus community. I look forward to working with organizations to make CSO better but the first step has to be civil discourse and compromise. To organizations that refuse to attend, you are missing opportunities to make your organization better. To those who come only with an agenda of complaints, it keeps CSO from getting at its mission. Recommend changes and I will bring them to the Senate, but complaining month after month has only made the situation worse. Work with me so that we may better serve this community. Last, to those organizations that attend CSO without complaint, which is a majority of all of the organizations, thank you. It is your efforts that keep CSO moving forward.

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