THE STUDENT UNION will be closing an hour earlier as a result of the University of Illinois Springfield school board. However, the Student Government, whose sole duty is to represent the students, were not so much as informed of this decision. One student senator informed this reporter, “I don’t know about the Executive Board of SGA but what I do know is that neither I or any of the other senators were informed.” The other senators I interviewed only confirmed that point.

In fact, after the decision was issued, the representatives of SGA went so far as to begin to schedule meetings with the Student Union to try and figure out why this decision did not reach their ears. The fact that SGA had to play catch-up shows why the university should have at least informed them before making this decision, as valuable time and effort was wasted trying to figure out what the new changes would mean. It has been argued by some senators that the change was out of the jurisdiction of the Student Government, but for the university to blatantly ignore SGA as an organization shook up a number of irritated elected officials.

Another, calmer SGA senator explained passionately that, “I cannot say whether I believe that the decision was ours to make (on voting on the hours of the Union). I can, however, say that we should have at least been informed prior to the decision.” It is this sentiment that I most believe should be represented in this story -not to grow animosity between the students and the university, but to ask why SGA was not informed.

Student Government, who, in its own constitution has a right and “Authority to Represent,” and it is the reporter’s belief that the authority of SGA should be respected regarding this matter.

This issue affects all students as it will be changing not only the hours of the Union but also the hours of the Grill and Starbucks. They will go so far as closing Starbucks on Saturdays, a day on which many people seem to visit the establishment.

In reports from the university, it has announced that the Union is making this change due to budget inefficiencies, and the new hours solve this problem. This bullish change potentially could have been avoided with Student Government working on solutions for the school while still protecting the values of the students. The future of this issue is still up in the air and it is up to the students to decide the future of the Unions hours. One of the best ways to do this is to contact the Student Government and give them the support and encouragement they need to make this important change.