From the moment we enter elementary school, we are told that communication (and sharing) is key. So why hasn’t the Binghamton University administration learned the lesson yet?

Though we students can be fairly accused of being apathetic toward a lot of things, there are certain issues that are important to us. Take the Caribbean Student Association campaigning endlessly for their Carnival, the Sierra Club’s coal campaign and the Binghamton Education Workers Union’s recent rally on budget cuts. The student body is not shy about letting the administration know where its attention is focused, and on the whole, is are only too willing to discuss the matter with school officials.

All that’s left is for the administration to listen, and respond. It’s not that much to ask.

In reality, however, students are lucky to catch one glimpse, if that, of President Lois DeFleur in all four years at BU — not counting during her welcoming speech at freshman orientation. And despite all his words of valuing student opinions, Vice President for Academic Affairs Brian Rose can give Pipe Dream the same statement two weeks and several protests apart.

Likewise, Chancellor Zimpher said SUNY schools were given two options for dealing with upcoming budget cuts. Despite the fact that this directly concerns students, neither option has been revealed or discussed with us (See page 4).

There are, of course exceptions. Vice President for Administration James Van Voorst recently sat down with Pipe Dream to discuss strategic plans for construction, law schools and snow days; a small time commitment from both parties, but a huge help in fostering positive relations. We don’t ask for any top secret information, but even a small amount of respect and honest conversation goes a long way.

Though there is no simple solution to this problem, there’s an obvious first step: the Student Association should use their often-referenced good relationship with faculty and administration to get students’ goals heard. Their job (at least in part), as we understand it, is to be a go-between with students and the administration. If the school is not willing to hear students out on their own, then our representatives need to step in and encourage the process. Being students themselves, they should be very well positioned to know what is important and relevant to the rest of us.

Plus, it’ll give the student body something concrete to remember the next time SA members talk about all the progress they’ve made this semester. This, perhaps, is the biggest opportunity to make progress, because it means dealing with real student concerns.

And if they need a reminder of just what those concerns are, we recommend a glance at the front page of Pipe Dream.