A mandate calling for a grass roots organizing weekend (GROW) to stimulate SIUC student voting, which some Undergraduate Student Government senators say is needed, will be voted on at tonight’s USG meeting.

According to USG senators Troy Alim, Evergreen Terrace, and Jemal Powell, College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, SIUC students have a poor voting record in student and Carbondale elections.

The mandate reported that out of the 18,172 undergraduate students at SIUC, 1,490 voted in the 1995 student elections and 155 SIUC students voted in the 1995 city elections, even though students were running for city offices.

Advertisement

Alim said he had talked to people who had participated in grass roots weekends before, and he felt it would be beneficial to SIUC students because the weekend focuses on making sure the issues get out to the students. He said the weekends have proven to increase student participation in elections on campuses where they have been held.

The workshops teach students how to evaluate each situation individually, Alim said.

Powell said the workshops are needed to inform the students about serious problems around them.

These workshops show students how to take action on issues that concern them, he said.

Alim said it if the mandate is approved, it would take at least six weeks to organize a grass roots weekend.

Another item on USG’s agenda is a resolution encouraging SIUC to join Illinois Students United for Responsible Government in Education, a conference where public colleges in Illinois discuss issues that affect them.

Scott Pfeiffer, USG chief-of-staff, said some USG members went to Springfield last week to an ISURGE conference and were impressed by what they saw.

Advertisement*

We expect better communication with other schools concerning issues that affect all of us, like education and legislation affecting students, and it gives our opinion on that legislation as the student body, Pfeiffer said.

Pfeiffer said he does not know of any opposition to the idea of joining ISURGE, but if there is, he would be willing to explain why SIUC should join.

One reason we are doing this is that throughout the year we have increased our awareness on what’s going on at the state level, he said. This will benefit us and help us even more.

USG will meet tonight at 7 in Ballroom B of the Student Center.