This letter seems a little jaded towards the editor-in-chief's, "Walsh"'s, contribution to the Recorder. Also, I like commas as well, but paragraph long sentences, stringed together with a bunch of commas, seems just a little weird, don't you think… lol

Joking aside though, The Recorder has benefited immensely over the years from his input and I hope the Recorder staff can build off of what "Walsh" has help to establish during his time with the Recorder

I am sorry you feel that way. I remember talking to you many times over my year as SGA president last year. I remember trying to get WFCS's space for bands back, that was/is currently being used as a "political action center". We also had other conversations as well, that I am positive I kept in the back of my mind as I was trying to run SGA. And I hope the next President will do what I would of done and asked to meet with you to get your opinion on how we can better ourselves and come to an understanding.

I do just want to give past SGAs some credit though. 3 years ago we did a campus safety walk around CCSU at night to identify some safety concerns. We came up with a long list, all of which got taken care of. Total price tag on that was over $2 million. I would say increasing safety on campus was good change for the community. That was the same year we implamented the Blue Devil Social to help connect administration with students. And it seems to be growing every year. That I would say is another positive change. Starting last year SGA has gradually increased the amount of scholarships it gives out. If you talk with Coach Mac, Mike Ansera, or any one involved with Athletics, they will tell you the positive change that SGA helped to create in the school spirit at CCSU. School spirit has been something that the recorder has always said needed growth, so SGA listened and they have been trying to help in that area as much as possible. Last year we have also started hosting an on-campus leadership conference in connection with the National Center for Student Leadership. This is a free service to help CCSU students develop their leadership abilities. We also worked together with the 3 other CSU's to lobby the state in remembering the benefits of the CSU system and try not to cut our budget to much. Now I have no measure on what effect that had, but I will say it was the CCSU SGA leading that lobby, because it was an issue to our students and we wanted to make sure they were represented. This list could go on and on if given the time and space, but I just want to make you aware of some things that have occurred in the past. I also want to remind you that part of "the bill", (student activity fees), you mentioned actually goes to funding this website, the recorder, WFCS, the media board, the STudent Union Board of Governors, all of which are not under SGA's governance. And if you think being inside a conference room 12 hrs a day for 2.5 days with only a few hours to actually have a "bonding activity" is your idea of a vacation please become part of SGA and see what its all about.

And please remember sga is made up of students like you as well that have to write papers, study for exams, and also have a social life. We are not professional politicians and only a few of us are actual political science majors. We choose to do be part of SGA because we want to at least TRY and help the campus community. There are close to 10,000 undergrad students at CCSU and only 40 of us. We try our best to please the students, but when dealing with that many not everyone will be satisfied. I know you stated that we get paid, but it isn't that much in comparison to the hours we put in. I gave up working a $14/hr job to be SGA president with a $1400/semester stipend and I was easily spending 35+ hrs a week on student related issues (SGA does actually keep track of office hours). If you do the math, I gave up a lot of money to be student government president, and actually with the interest on my student loans I probably actually LOST money to be in that position.

So i beg of you to please take back what you said about SGA being a sham. While it is not perfect, it is composed of your fellow students. Some of who really do try hard to listen and help the students. So by calling SGA a joke, you are directly disrespecting people who do care.

Thank you very much for expressing your concern and understanding our position.

Best Regards,
Andrew Froning
SGA President 2009-2010
SGA Senator At-Large / Chair of Student Life Committee 2008-2009
CCSU Class of 2010