OPINION: Four Ways SGA Can Address Pedestrian Safety

 

 

(Logo. Source: Student Government Association at UT-Tyler.)

This week, Treasurer Soren Peters opened a discussion on pedestrian safety in student government, to which the assembly responded by also reporting their concerns about areas of pedestrian safety on the main campus. While Peters deserves commendation for taking initiative on this subject and for promoting awareness of its importance among his peers, the cause of pedestrian safety will continue to fail unless a leader takes responsibility for it. In this vein, here are four ways a student government member can take to resolve issues of pedestrian safety. 

1. Resolve to figure it out. Student government members will have to first persevere through an preliminary investigation about his subject before he can discover productive solutions to propose for his issue. Investigations are open-ended at first and unclear how rewarding they will be. Therefore, a member must resolve to go through the uncomfortable, open-ended phases first in order to discover productive solutions. So he should dedicate himself at the outset to “figure it out” and endure the uncomfortable parts until he gets to the better ones (which are solution discovery). So resolve to figure it out. 

2. Specialize in one area. It is unlikely a single senator will discover a one-size-fits-all solution to campus-wide pedestrian problem. Therefore, it is more productive if a single senator picks one instance to work on, such as The Old Omen Crosswalk or The Soules Building parking lot. A single senator could do his part by picking a manageable amount the problem to tackle, which is one area. Resolve to specialize in one area and own that. 

3. President Dix can create a Pedestrian Safety ad-hoc committee. This committee can be responsible to identify locations of concern and to propose draft solutions for the student assembly to support. This committee can also handle areas one-by-one. However, each area will still need champions, which restates the point in the paragraph above. However, the president drives the agenda. President Dix could create committees and assign roles to address the issue of pedestrian safety. 

4. Be willing to work independently. While politics depends upon cooperation, a leader who wants to make a difference will resolve to work independently if necessary rather than wait for others to join him. Members often back down from leading others because they lack confidence. Yet, education brings confidence. If an SGA member can educate himself on a topic, then he will find he does not feel insecure about stepping out in front of others. He will feel the confidence to serve these issues and he will not have to wait for others to lead him. He can act on his own. 

Talk is helpful, but change happens because of leadership. By resolving to figure it out, by picking one area in which to specialize, by President Dix creating a pedestrian safety ad-hoc committee, and by being willing to work independently, student government members can take the next steps to address pedestrian safety.

*NOTE: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified Soren Peters as vice president rather than treasurer.

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Comments

  1. pro-nagNovember 15, 2023 at 12:49 PM

    Soren Peters is not the Vice President of sga

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. James HescockNovember 16, 2023 at 1:50 PM

      Sorry about that! I fixed it. Thanks for letting me know!

      Delete

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