Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006. It was not a national holiday or even a Hallmark holiday. It was the day Marquette Student Government Executive Board members as well as senators greeted each other around campus with smiles and the question, "Did you see the paper today?" It was the day the headline in the Tribune read, "Marquette reinstates South Africa program." Although MUSG does not, by any means, take sole credit for the reinstatement of the program, MUSG is proud the voice of the students was heard.

In the past five weeks, MUSG has been doing everything in its power to stress the importance of student input to administration. As a member of the MUSG Executive Board, I can assure you that countless time and energy is being spent to represent the students in the best way possible. We strongly believe the administration is beginning to understand the significance of "student voice."

Thursday, more than 20 students came to the MUSG Senate meeting to share their thoughts regarding the possibility of converting O'Donnell Hall. The week prior, more than 45 students attended the meeting to inform MUSG of their frustration with the cancellation of the South Africa program. Both meetings were rewarding and productive. The atmosphere and sense of togetherness felt throughout the room was astounding, a feeling only comparable to that sense of achievement felt Oct. 5, when the program was reinstated.

Dr. Toby Peters, associate vice president for administration, addressed the Senate Thursday and told MUSG, "We want you to feed us the information so that we make the right decisions. Your role is critical." Nearly 100 students serve MUSG as senators, program commissioners, committee representatives and officers. We have diverse interests, concerns, studies and backgrounds, but we are not the entire student body. We try our very best to gather and represent the needs of each student at Marquette, but we need your help. If there is an issue or problem about which you are passionate, we want to know so we can inform the administration.

Let us not view the reinstatement of the South Africa program as an unusual response from the administration. I encourage you instead to look at this as an integral step toward improving and stabilizing communication between students and administration.

Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns about our Marquette University. Students are welcome to voice opinions at Senate every Thursday night at 7:30 p.m., in the MUSG Office, Alumni Memorial Union 133, any weekday, or by e-mail at [email protected] at any time. I also invite you to attend the Father Wild forum tonight at 7 p.m. on the first floor of the Alumni Memorial Union.

I know you've heard it before, but let's not forget . We Are Marquette.

Lane is a senior in the College of Communication and MUSG communications vice president.