There are some changes on the horizon for our Registered Student Organizations (RSOs). This coming semester, every RSO constitution is going to have to update the language used when referring to the inclusivity of members and add something that should’ve been required from the beginning. Starting voluntarily this semester, and becoming mandatory in the fall, there will be a section that will allow members of RSOs to remove an organization’s president from power and kick them out of the clubhouse. My response to this is an emphatic “this wasn’t already in there?”
Seriously, why are we now just getting around to this? The idea that there’s been some poor organization in the past stuck with an incompetent or ineffective leader is beyond depressing. It is our right as Americans to hate our leadership and be able to displace him or her if enough people don’t like the direction that person is taking our group. Of course it rarely ever works out that way, but we can at least try to pretend that’s how we operate in this country.
Despite how good of a move adding a removal of presidency rule into the constitutions is, there remains something regrettably cynical about it. The optimist in me wants to believe that all humans are thinking creatures. We may not always be logical, or even conscientious of others, but we all have the capacity to think through problems and talk it out with our peers. This rule assumes that at some point things are probably going to get nasty and there needs to be a way for the members to fight back against their leader. There will always be an element of tragedy with a displaced leader, the loss of potential to fix mistakes and make a difference will always be disheartening.
Of course, there could always be circumstances where the members abuse this power and they end up getting rid of a decent leader because of petty or trivial matters. Whatever the case, I am just glad the Student Activities Center (SAC) is finally addressing this problem, in spite of the tragically negative connotations. Not that it’s their fault. These things are almost always on the radar for quite a while before getting implemented and we all have to deal with the bureaucracy inherent to the system. So despite the philosophical misgivings, I am sure this will end up solving more problems than it creates.
