On August 27, 2024, the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Student Government Association (SGA) posted an Instagram announcement for an upcoming meet and greet event, to be held on the next day on August 28. This was the last time SGA would communicate publicly with students – their constituents – regarding the Senate or other standard functions, since the writing of this article. No Instagram posts, no emails, no Suitable events, no posters or TV ads noticed by myself or other TechNews members. It’s just been radio silence.
Last semester, I detailed the systemic attempts to silence students exhibited by SGA. I don’t really want to relitigate that story; if you’re curious in the details, I would refer back to that article. About a week ago, on February 26, this process took another step in the wrong direction.
While fact-checking a part of my Finance Board article, I reached out to SGA Executive Vice President (EVP) Derrick Hill. He told me their website should be “active for about two more weeks.” This is the last place they’re even somewhat regular in updating information – and in about a week by the point of publishing, it will be taken down.
I’m choosing to give SGA the benefit of the doubt that this is only happening due to Google Sites hosting issues post-Microsoft transition. That said, there have been no announcements of this. And once this is closed, SGA will have fully isolated themselves.
I do want to briefly acknowledge Meenakshi Sridharan, the Senate Liaison to the Press, has admittedly done good work to update what has happened, and recognize her for that effort. That said, the nature of her work is inherently incomplete. Even if she accurately represents everything that has been done, it doesn’t include upcoming meetings. That’s just as important, if not more so.
Regardless of the good work being performed by individuals, this broader trend is extremely concerning. Especially given SGA Executive Board elections are supposed to be coming soon, students need to be able to communicate with them. Even outside of that, any governmental organization who has no accountability breeds trouble. Whether or not it is the website, SGA needs to reestablish lines of communication and quickly.