Is student government irrelevant to the political concerns of Macalester students? Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk novel “Snow Crash” depicts a postmodern dystopia wherein the U.S. Federal Government has become but one authority among many. Despite decrepitude in the face of more powerful mini-states run by mobsters and corporations, the Feds continue to intensify their internal bureaucracy.

In our own time, national governments nearly the world over seem hopelessly corrupt, structurally unable to nurture democracy under the tread of corporate interests. Modern, nationalist politics have clearly failed.

As students carrying multiple intersecting identities; as students at a private academy that is seriously invested in reproducing institutional status quo; as students investigating counter-hegemonic models of being political (direct democracy, coalition work, cross-identity ally work, anarchy, grassroots democracy), is involvement with Macalester College Student Government a meaningful, strategic use of your time?

In this context, I'd like to introduce Common Platform (CP) and the candidates for Legislative Body (LB) who support it. CP is a coalition of circumstance, a temporary creek through which various passions flow. These include a commitment to insisting upon social justice at every level, a desire to intervene in traditional representational politics, a frustration with the contradictions between strands of education at Macalester and strands of the institutions of Macalester, and the joy of working with local communities to implement immediate hopes and visions in daily life.

As you approach this Tuesday's election for LB representatives, consider voting for CP candidates in the basement of the Campus Center. Last semester, we used consensus decision making to create four planks which constitute the Common Platform. Descriptions of these planks follow below, with an accompanying list of candidates who, as of last Monday night, have signaled support for them.

100% need-blind admissions: The school’s administration is drifting towards a plan that would shift admission policy away from 100% need-blind admissions. Need-blind means that the school doesn’t check to see how much money the student needs before determining whether she or he should be admitted or not. The Need-Sort-of-Blind plan in the works would fill 10% of each new class with wealthy white non-athlete kids (admissions policy for athletes, domestic students of color, and international students would not be affected). We think this stinks. The college has the financial resources to continue operating. Academic institutions should always strive to increase access for working class kids, not limit it.

Institutional responsibility as a matter of course, not convenience: Macalester continues to operate on the assumption that maintaining an “elite liberal arts” reputation (often expressed as US News and World Report’s rankings) trumps making basic commitments to social justice and environmental sustainability every time. Cases in point: years of refusal to implement the Talloires environmental agreement that the school signed, the exclusive contract with the murderous Coca-Cola corporation, and a veil of secrecy over College investments. This attitude is inexcusable in light of the facts of global privilege.

Recruit domestic students of color and make the campus supportive of them: The College has ignored years of concrete suggestions from current and former domestic students of color on how to recruit and create a sustaining campus culture. Student government should immediately hold a forum to initiate a process to catalogue these suggestions (from recruiting better in-state, to admitting students in groups and changing residential programs) and demand a timetable for their implementation.

Immediately create a gender-blind housing option: For years, members of the queer student community and allies have requested a change in Residential Life policy to allow students, who do not identify as “male” or “female” in the dominant sense, an on-campus option for rooming with someone of the opposite sex. If the school’s gender studies department teaches binary gender as a social construction that carries damaging dynamics for some, why reproduce binary gender in on-campus living for all?

Look out for additional write-in candidates on CP flyers, especially if you are a junior or senior in a Natural Science major. Some of these candidates have experience in the LB; others are first years. More candidates may have joined on since this article went to press.

We hope to work with you to deepen the meaning of student government and focus on student-initiated solutions. For more information, contact Peter Kirschmann: pkirschmann@Macalester.edu.