New group promotes student input in community

What began as a group on Facebook could soon be a Recognized Student Organization (RSO).

The new organization, Student Political Movement and Think Tank (SPMTT), was originally called “Isn’t It Ironic” and created a place where students could vent about perceived injustices within the community.

Junior Will Thompson, a political science major, is leading the formation of the new organization.

“Students contribute so much to the area – economically and in other ways – it’s important that students have politically oriented pull within the community because without it they do not get any of the laws they need passed,” Thompson said.

Students have had complaints about what is going on in the GCSU community, Thompson said, but until now they have not had a unified voice.

“The people that make the biggest noise get what they want,” Thompson said. “If students, even though they contribute so much to the area, don’t make any noise, then nothing that they want will get accomplished.”

Senior Kara Spence, a general business major, said students need this chance to be heard.

“I think it will give Georgia College students a chance to share their ideas and views,” Spence said. “It will give the community insight on how students feel.”

To help students’ voices be heard, Thompson said the organization had three goals.

“First, we want to make sure students can get free legal advice,” Thompson said. “Second, we want to have a committee that can go to all of the council meetings in the area to get information back to the students to keep them informed. Third, to look into rights violations by (police) officers in the area.”

While the group will be concerned with all three areas, Thompson said they will focus on community involvement.

“I believe the second part will be the most important and will be the basis of our organization,” Thompson said. “It’s about time that a group gets formed for students.”

In the future, Thompson said they plan to advertise with campus media to inform students what is going on in the local government.

Although SPMTT started on Facebook, Thompson said the focus of the organization had changed and that he did not want anyone to misunderstand the group’s goals.

“It started as a zealot organization after people heard all these stories about rights violations by police officers,” Thompson said. “After that all calmed down, we decided to make that a part of it, but there are more things the organization can do. I don’t want Public Safety or the Milledgeville Police Department or the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department to think that this is an attack on them. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

Freshman Patrick Britt, a political science major, got involved with the RSO because he wanted to make a difference in the community.

“Students make up about one-fourth of the city, so we should have some voice, but there doesn’t seem to be one,” Britt said. “No one has started up anything. I would also like to help other people. At a school this big we need someone to speak for the students.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 7 2006. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry