We want to congratulate Henry Thomas and Stephanie Stopka on being election president and executive vice president of Marquette Student Government, and presiding over their first MUSG meeting tonight. We urge them to stick to the promises they made on the campaign trail and make some real changes for Marquette. Past MUSG leaders have had mixed success in doing this. We would like to look at the goals of the outgoing president and executive vice president to point out their successes, but also to highlight areas still in need of MUSG's attention.

According to their campaign's old Facebook group, Redlingshafer and Blaney took office with the following short term goals:

– "Increased number of computers in the Alumni Memorial Union for student use."

For a self-defined short-term goal, we had hoped to see this come to fruition before Redlingshafer and Blaney left office. The only word we have heard of this is that "plans are underway," which seems similar to what we were reassured of during last year's elections. There is still definitely a need to increase the number of computers available to students in the union.

– "A cleaner, smoother Student Organization Allocation process."

We were pleased that the Student Organization Allocations Committee will now be allowed to approved allocations under $2,500, bringing it more into line with the currently reality of organizations' requests. We were glad that the decision was made in February to re-open the allocation period to distribute unused funds, but it is a disgrace that the Budget Committee was unable to convene enough senators to vote on this issue when it first arose in November.

– "It is a top priority of ours to improve MUSG's involvement in community service."

This hasn't really happened. The only action that can really be considered a step toward this goal was last meeting's approval of the "Dining Dollars are the Difference" proposal, but the initiative for this did not come from MUSG and efforts to make this a reality are already underway with Sodexo, Marquette and community organizations. MUSG does not need a Service Commissioner position to plan a service event or two.

– "Increased communication…regarding legislation, programs, goals and concerns."

Again, we have seen few results in this area, one that we consider among the most important. Students have a right to know what is going on with MUSG, but the current system is near impenetrable. Meeting agendas and proposed legislation are sent from the Legislative Vice President to MUSG Senators prior to the meeting. While some agendas and legislation are posted on the MUSG Web site, many were not added until after the legislation had been voted on, ruling out any chance of constituent input.

Under Redlingshafer and Blaney, a communications policy was implemented that "strongly encouraged" all senators to have their statements reviewed by the vice president of communications. While Redlingshafer claims that compliance was not mandatory, a number of senators did not seem to feel this was the case. This policy made it extremely difficult for the Tribune to seek comment from individual senators, severely impacted MUSG's ability to communicate with the student body.

A key long term goal mentioned was:

– "Greater communication with Milwaukee Police Department and Public Safety regarding student safety."

The Wells Street Median project is a success by Redlingshafer and Blaney in this area. Their leadership in reaching out to local leaders to make this project a reality is truly commendable and is a step toward a safer campus.

Thomas and Stopka, take note of the successes and failures of your predecessors, as they should shape your leadership of MUSG. We hope to see some much-needed changes implemented on campus during your term.