It’s American Government 101: three branches of government, with checks and balances. Student government at Sacramento State, though, has only one branch – the board of directors.

There are no checks on the Associated Students, Inc. student government besides the voters who elect them. ASI determines what students can vote on and hears grievances regarding current legislation or policies within the system.

If a student has a grievance, he or she must present it to the board, and the board makes a decision. Some students, like Ed Ober, see a serious conflict of interest. He sees a problem with the same board acknowledging or disregarding something brought to it regarding the policies they implement.

Ober, senior government major, is a transfer student from CSU Long Beach, where he served as an associate justice on the judicial branch of the student government there. Last Thursday, he brought before the board of directors a board measure for a judiciary to be created, but the proposal was turned down and will not appear on the ballot.

Ober is currently working on a petition to have the legislation put on the ballot by submitting legislation to Lori Varlotta, vice president of Student Affairs. Ober said he must obtain 160 signatures on the petition to override the board’s decision and allow students to vote on the proposal.

Ober characterized the current model of ASI government as a corporate model – run like a business – and said it should be changed to something that more closely mirrors our national government.

“Everything we expect from our national government, we should have in our university’s government,” Ober said, “It should be run with three branches of government, along with transparency and accountability.”

ASI, Ober said, could be a great opportunity to “train students for positions in government.”

The current model that is being reviewed by Varlotta is loosely based on the CSU Long Beach model. CSU Dominguez Hills and CSU Los Angeles have judiciary branches as well. Ober hopes that this model will increase student participation in campus activities and get more people involved in student government. Last year, ASI President Miguel Cervantes ran unopposed and about 6 percent of the student population voted – about 1,600 students in a school of 28,000.

Anne Morrison can be reached at [email protected].