“Communication!” students cried last spring during Students’ Association officer elections.

The candidates all listened and pitched ideas for how they could best fix the problem, but a semester later we find ourselves heading toward the same brick-thick barrier that divides SA Congress from the rest of the student body.

Many students on campus don’t know how the congress functions, who their representatives are, or what SA even does. This year, like so many in the past, was supposed to be different. This year, classes have officers to create more obvious figureheads to whom students can communicate their concerns, thus holding these representatives accountable. The work of executive officers was to supposed be more transparent through the use of the SA website. Students were going to see their representatives at work.

But now, more than halfway through the semester, we can truly begin to see frayed edges of what was probably never tightly knit.

A building representative and an off-campus representative resigned from their positions. The SA executive president said one representative resigned early in the year because he was busy and over-committed; the other resigned about two weeks ago for similar reasons. Neither the student body nor other members of congress learned of other of these resignations.

Although it may seem like a portion of the accountability should fall into the laps of the representatives, this is a matter of cabinet concern. The cabinet steers away from appointing students to elected positions, which is understandable because any candidate would have run during the election. But the fear of not meeting quorum (which is based on percentages) is no excuse for failing to relay the message to those who voted for leaders they no longer have representing them.

As this relates to congress as a whole, it is hard for the student body to hold members accountable for communication when they do not communicate well within themselves. Maybe that explains why last Wednesday congress traded an empty agenda for bonding time. Then again, who would pick a meeting over a free pizza party? Of course, “free” only means free to them.

Congress isn’t communicating with us, nor is it listening to what we want from them. The congress this semester passed the full budget without any debate, rebuttal or proposal for any changes to group allocations. There are many fresh faces in congress, but inexperience shouldn’t equate to apathy. The weight of congress seems to be placed on the cold backs of an executive and administrative cabinet that turns a deaf ear to the student body.

You heard what we want, SA: communication. Now what will we hear from you?