Perfect.
That's the only way to describe the attendance and action taken by the students Tuesday night, considering the forum about Ball State's "Police Yourself" campaign and Muncie Police's crackdown was poorly publicized.
The City of Muncie's response to the death of Karl Harford is poorly rationalized. The police say it is in response to complaints from neighborhood associations about trash on front lawns. That's fine.
However, it was announced at a press conference about Harford's murder.
Damien Sanders, the man accused of killing Harford, is a repeat offender who was roaming the streets of Muncie with a gun. Muncie Police Chief Joe Winkle said his officers might also crackdown in the neighborhood where Harford was killed.
That's good, but it has to be now, and it must be just as strong or stronger than what is going on here, and it's a shame it hasn't happened yet.
What happened to Karl Harford didn't involve trash on a lawn, but a dead student in an alley.
These are just more complaints, though. Students need to begin to discuss a solution. That talk began last night after the forum, but it is disorganized and chaotic. It is also being organized by people who shouldn't have to do it. It is not a random student's responsibility to represent the students to administrators and to the city. That responsibility belongs to one man: Ben Tietz, the president of Student Government Association.
Tuesday night, Tietz agreed that, if students showed up in strong numbers to today's SGA Senate meeting, senators and executive officers would brainstorm with them about possible solutions -- something that can be done to make sure solutions are addressed in Muncie.
Less than 24 hours before a meeting is short notice, but senators don't need every student. If a small percent of students show up to senate today, it will still be enough to get the attention of the senators.
Another thing to keep in mind is that Tietz and SGA only have power if they have student support. Without the students backing them up, they will look like fools when they tell university and city administrators that they represent the students.
They also can't tell the administrators what they want if students don't tell them.
Student Senate meets at 3:15 p.m. in Cardinal Hall of the Student Center. The meeting typically lasts until 5 p.m. Senators won't be able to address the students immediately during the meeting, but they said it won't end with them being ignored.
This one meeting might not be the final solution. There might be other things, rallies, that can happen also. However, this is the first step, because these are the students with power and responsibility. It's a place where students can do more than just complain, like they did at Tuesday night's forum. It's a place where they can start talking about a solution.
And, after all, Tietz is the man chosen to represent the students. Put him to work.
Muncie, not Ball State, needs to admit it has a problem, and it's time students tells Muncie to police itself.
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