The headline isn’t probably a newsflash to many. Over the years, ECA has always been perceived to have that you-can’t-sit-with-us vibe—perhaps not by everyone but most certainly by the majority.
The current ECA President stated in the interview last September that this matter has always been brought up, even with the past administrations.
If this matter always resurfaces every now and then, it is quite baffling that this perception never even changes.
A student council is supposed to work together for the overall goal of serving the student body but we all know this is not always the case. John Doe expressed his concerns regarding the existence of “factions” in ECA, which also leads to the culture of favoritism that underpins the “unequal distribution of tasks”. ECA, according to John Doe, is also “selective” when it comes to officers—made obvious, accordingly again, by the “repetitive set of officers”. But Ms. President explained that officers are assigned to positions where they would grow most, and this does not equate to being selective.
Ms. President also said that current ECA officers are nothing but approachable and professional. She added that they have been serving the student body authentically, catering not only a selected few but the whole student community. She also asserted that if an officer ever made a student feel that way, it was mostly likely that the officer did not intentionally do it as they are, as she claimed, not typically like that.
What John Doe says about ECA being “exclusive” does not match that of what Ms. President says, and vice versa. The only reasonable presumption is that both sides see the matter at different standpoints. But would John Doe really come forward to voice out his concerns when these concerns do not exist at all even in a slightest bit?
With the imminent change in the set of ECA Officers, perhaps it’s about time to resolve this connectivity issue, not just between the council and the student body but among the members themselves as well.
The next time your phone rings, we hope you can answer the call.
