Issue date: 10/27/04 Section: Opinion

The death of Emerson College student Victoria "Torie" Snelgrove was an effective way to sober the entire city on a day that should have been filled with pure joy.

Of course, it is natural to want to be a part of something that changes the wrong in society, however this time the efforts of some Suffolk Student Government Association members has gone too far. In documents obtained by The Suffolk Journal on Tuesday Oct. 26 we learned that SGA members Daniel Monahan '05, Sean Scanlon '08, Allan Motenko '06 and Max Koskoff '07 are sponsoring a proposed resolution "relative to police action that resulted in the death of Victoria Snelgrove." Within the past year SGA has passed other resolutions denouncing the Patriot Act and the war in Iraq.

The resolutions are made public and in theory become the official stance of the student body. The question remains, how can these student leaders feel comfortable supporting a proposed resolution that speaks for the entire student body, when on average only 100 people voted in the various elections held each semester?

We here at The Journal commend the SGA members for wanting to question authority and obtain answers to the questions that linger surrounding Snelgrove's death. However, the way in which these members are going about it is completely out of line.

The resolution "demands that Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole, with the assistance of Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino... facilitate the creation of an independent investigative commission and to charge that commission with investigating the incidents that occurred on Oct 21, 2004."

For the SGA to "demand" anything of the Commissioner or the Mayor in regards to these incidents is totally absurd. The SGA continually fails to comprehend their place on the totem pole here at Suffolk and in the community around our campus. Their positions and time commitment are indeed worthy of note, but they have been elected to represent the student body.

In this case the student body would be better served if the SGA members were spending this time working with peers, administrators and city officials to curb such incidents in the future. Rather they are compiling a lengthy and absurd proposal, planning a press conference and hand delivering the proposal to a police commissioner who is most likely pretty busy this week.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools