Text of Resolution

As individual undergraduates in a large university, we have learned that we will not have a significant impact on university decision-making until we have a student-wide undergraduate organization. Most students will continue to be unable to have a meaningful voice in decisions about their educations and their lives until there exists an organization which is directly and solely accountable to them, and which is prepared to act to represent and protect their interests.

The present forms of "student government" as they are designed, do not provide an adequate forum for the expression of student interests. They have failed to promote a vital and creative student-wide discussion of significant issues, and have rarely shown an ability to initiate proposals in response to student concerns. Students on the committees lack resources and often are able only to react to proposals by non-students. Furthermore, students are hampered because they constitute only a minority of these organizations, and have little contact with the student body.

We therefore create this government to give power to undergraduates. It will exist to represent aggressively students' interests in all areas of university life, serving as an advocate for the rights of individuals as well as for the concerns of groups, and for the student body as a whole. All significant student concerns are within its purview.

As a forum for student-wide discussion and evaluation of issues, it will facilitate student activism. It will provide a structure for informing and organizing students interested in working on specific issues.

It is not meant to replace existing committees, and can be expected to work with these groups when it furthers students' interests to do so. However, the student government is to be strictly and solely accountable to the students it represents, for its legitimacy must be given by them.