The Facts: Student Government and Campus Recreation will be hosting the first annual College Cup Competition this Saturday. Ten students from each college will participate in a series of challenges to see who will get their college’s name on the golden cup. All attendants are from outside of Student Government.

Our Opinion: While the College Cup competition will provide a physical and mental outlet for students to display their competitiveness, Student Government is trying too hard to start a tradition at N.C. State and that is not their purpose.

Student Government’s attempts to make the College Cup a tradition for can be seen in their preparation, their expectations that it will continue in the future and their making the winning trophy big enough for 28 potential spots. While they may mean well, their efforts should be focused elsewhere because creating traditions is not their function.

Student Government’s mission statement outlines a three-pronged approach to serving the student body.

This year, while they have proudly displayed what they accomplished on their website, Student Government still hasn’t addressed the division between themselves and the student body. This is where they should focus their energy to prepare for next year. The first line of their mission statement states that they will encourage students to express their concerns and ideas. Students have scoffed at the idea of Student Government communicating with them and are less likely to respond because of this.

They are also supposed to promote an environment of open discourse and academic excellence. Although their list of accomplishments this year is extensive, there have been few tangible results. Their work with advising has proven somewhat fruitful and they are starting to expand their communication with administrators and deans, but students are not feeling included in this discourse and that is the crux of the problem.

Finally, Student Government is meant to proactively represent the student voice to the University administration and Board of Trustees through ethical and accountable public service. It sounds nice, but that is it. The student representatives aim to serve, but by not being visible and actively communicating to students, their credibility in representation fails.

There is clearly a misunderstanding in their function. While commissions and committees exist to divide up the work and keep operations organized, at the end of the day, it is up to the students and organizations to make things happen whether they are communicating or running events. Student Government exists to make sure these groups have the environment and support so they can do this freely, not do it have it done by Student Government.

This year Student Government has looked past most of these issues. More planning and energy has gone towards setting up a tradition rather than addressing the issues of communication. What they seem to forget is that they are not the student body, but rather represent them. Student Government should focus more on representing the students in the departments on the chopping block, and leave the traditions to STAT and other organizations.