Analysis of freshman student government association structures and functions

¶ … freshmen generally have little say in the student government at Texas Tech. The freshmen are essentially redshirted, stuck in a learning role and unable to exert any political power. The problem is caused by higher representatives of the student government. They have the capacity to change the system but do not make an attempt to do so. This policy affects freshman, who as a result of the policy have very little input into the student government. The issues that student government deals with will affect the freshman class for four years, so their lack of input could not only be a problem for the freshman class but for all students.

The most important communication theory to explain the situation with the freshmen is the standpoint theory. The upperclassmen have a stratified social structure with the freshmen at the bottom. There is no practical reason for this to be the case, save for the low social standing of the freshmen. In addition, this low social standing has become part of the organizational culture of the student government. This reflects the cultural approach to organizations. The tradition of the organization is difficult to break. Even though it makes little practical sense it is tradition and therefore is more entrenched than would otherwise be justified.

There are a couple of possible solutions. One is to bring freshmen into student government fully. The advantage of this plan is that it would allow freshmen to receive representation in the student government. The main disadvantage of this is that it would place inexperienced freshmen in positions of authority for which they may not be prepared. In addition, the work that the freshmen currently perform would need to be done by somebody else.

Another possible solution is a compromise. Freshmen that currently spend their entire first year performing menial tasks would now only do this for the first semester. The advantage of this plan is that the freshman class would receive representation in the second semester. Moreover, they would receive that representation from members with a full semester's worth of experience. The student government would function better for the input of the freshmen, and this alternative would avoid having raw rookies in student government. The downside to this alternative is that it still perpetuates the notion of the freshman subclass. Moreover, the first semester would still see the status quo and there could be exploitation of freshmen during this semester that would otherwise go unaddressed.

The best recommendation for solving this problem would be the second option. The student government tackles important issues, so some experience is necessary. However, many members of this government will have had experience in their high school. This should flatten the learning curve for freshmen, such that no more than a month or two of training should suffice.