Illinois Student Government met last night with a new constitution on their agenda.

What's in the current constitution? You may never know or care.

What would a new constitution look like? Again, you may never know or care.

Why? Most students on campus don't even know what ISG is or what it does.

Part of the reason for this is that ISG doesn't do very much that affects students. They went to Springfield once to lobby against a bill that would take away the driver's license of any underage student caught drinking, but weren't very successful. They sit in on a lot of committees, which is kind of cool. But ISG has no legislative powers; all it can do is give opinions on issues. Chancellor Nancy Cantor made ISG the "official voice of the student body," whatever that means. Rather than using that voice for issues on campus, this voice is used to give opinions on issues like the Chief and the war in Iraq, which we'll never all agree on.

ISG also spends a lot of student money, but most of it doesn't help students. Rather, ISG spends the money on things such as dinners and lobbying trips to Washington, D.C., for its members. ISG does give money to the Tenant Union, which does help students, but the amount allocated to the Tenant Union took a nosedive this year. The trip is still on, though.

What ISG does provide students is the illusion that they have some say in what happens on this campus. Without legislative powers, there isn't any real power there. The U-C Senate, which does have legislative powers, is made up mostly of faculty, so students don't have any real power there, either.

The proposed constitution isn't very good. It includes having half the members of ISG act as checks on the other half. Checks are important, but half the members seems an awfully ineffective number.

Perhaps what ISG should consider doing is just tossing its current and proposed constitutions by the wayside and disbanding for four years. In four years, all the internal political factors that are holding ISG back will probably disappear when all the people involved in ISG graduate. The money allocated to ISG every year can be used by someone else, such as the Illini Union Board or the Registered Student Organization Complex. Individuals and groups of students who actually want to make a difference on campus can apply for the money and use it to better our educational environment. Students could actually take the initiative to add trash cans and lights to our campus. Maybe students can use the money to work with the MTD to set up heaters at bus stops for the cold months ahead. Equipment for student groups or departments, such as TVs, VCRs or projectors, could be purchased. However the money is used, it's bound to be more helpful to students than the way ISG is spending it now.

In four years, a new group of motivated students can begin to meet without all of the current ISG politics getting in the way. Hopefully, the new, cleansed system will do things that actually help students. Fundraisers for better technology in the classroom would allow students to see the fruits of ISG members' work. The new ISG could model itself after organizations on our campus that work well, such as the Illini Union Board and SORF. Rather than lobby in D.C., ISG members can aim closer to home and lobby the Champaign and Urbana City Councils for issues important to students, such as parking and better lighting. ISG could organize social events such as movies and flag football on the Quad.

A good first step for ISG would be to figure out that no one knows or cares very much about what they're doing, and then work on improvements from there.