Every year, the De Anza College Associated Student Body Senate is in charge of disbursing about $1 million to De Anza programs and activities. De Anza groups and departments compete for the funds, collected from student body fees and flea market proceeds. 

Realizing this awesome responsibility, the 2008-09 Senate approved a constitutional amendment to create a committee to check the limits of DASB senate actions and to also act as an impartial party to run the Senate elections.

Unfortunately, this judicial board does not yet exist. Since the amendment took effect in 2009, the Senate has been unable to get it up and running. 

First, it took time to develop bylaws for the board. The 2009–10 Senate’s administration committee approved final adjustments on the bylaws and the Senate approved them at the end of spring quarter 2009. 

Second, recruiting five to seven students for the board was problematic, Wayne Spalding, last year’s vice president of administration said. The Senate could not advertise the board effectively, because they had limited access to contact students. They were unable to access students’ e-mail addresses, and weren’t invited to speak in classes. 

Third, there was little success in creating the board after reviewing the applicants. Schedule conflicts, a lack of interest and an ineligible status were the reasons. 

So, almost two years later, no judicial committee has been formed. That’s too bad.

As the future leaders of this nation, we need to exercise the critical thinking and leadership that we learn in our classrooms. 

Mohandas Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” And we, as students, must be the change we want to see at De Anza. We must become involved on campus while we are young and — supposedly — passionate about our futures. How will we be able to improve the future if we aren’t taking responsibilities for our present?

De Anza students must participate in student governance. We’d like to see students banging on the Senate’s doors, vying for the opportunity to serve on this committee.