Student Government Etiquette

Locklock

So, I'm in college (Political Science major!) and am trying to get involved with my student government. I stopped by the office about a week and a half ago to volunteer as a way of "getting my foot in the door" so to speak. Well I haven't heard word one from them since and today is the first public meeting they have.

Now my question is, when they bring up new business is it okay to ask for some work to do? The meeting isn't very big, their conference room holds maybe a dozen people. I have very little experience with parliamentary procedure and don't know if that's something that's appropriate to bring up. Should I ask at the meeting or wait until some other time and try to get a hold of an individual?

Also, if you have experience with student government, do you have any advice? What to look out for, what I should avoid, and so on?

Thanatos

If you want to do anything with student government--and most people who aren't either ego-driven brown-nosing résumé whores or masochists don't--you've pretty much got to get elected.

I did it once, briefly. It isn't fun (I majored in poli sci, too).

As for if you really want to speak out, you'd have to wait until the "public comment" period on the agenda, if they have one, or ask for an agenda spot to be heard. You'd be much better off e-mailing your class/dorm/whatever representative, and asking them.

EggyToast

Yeah, are you looking for general political experience, or specifically student gov't experience?

If you're looking for legit real world experience, you'll probably be received more warmly and end up with more "stuff to do" if you pursue your local government people, either city, county, region, or state. It's right after an election year, but if you're a democrat you could potentially get involved in 2008 proceedings relatively soon (as those employed by democrats are currently rather excited about their prospects). If you're more republican-minded, you should check around the end of the year, as there'll undoubtedly be activity but their national mood is more low-key at the moment.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

It probably depends to a large extent on where you are, and on how expansive the SG is on your campus. The bottom line is that, like most student governments, they're probably both starved for volunteers and less organized than you'd expect. You might have to push a little bit harder to get involved than you would at, say, your local PAC phonebank.

You're welcome to send me specific questions if you want; it's hard to give you very good advice based on what you wrote.