The recent removal of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) has brought into discussion the responsibilities of each committee in the Upper School. SADD was impeached because they failed to comply with their bylaws. More specifically, they did not meet the requirement for number of events held in a semester.

Before their impeachment, the Director of Committee Affairs Jalen Benjamin notified the committee that they were to be impeached as a result of their lack of events.

The purpose of SADD is to educate the student body about issues related to drugs and alcohol, as well as about issues pertaining to high school life. Aside from one event at homecoming, in which SADD had students sign a traditional “don’t make bad decisions” contract, the heads had not done much in the way of educating students about bad decisions.

SADD’s impeachment puts in question what the role of an active committee should be in the community, and the consensus seems to have fallen to the realm of events — have a lot of them, and your committee will pass. “The Weekly” feels as though this misses the point of committees, and it should be recognized that heads don’t need to play a highly visible role in the school in order to maintain their position.

Right now, most committees in the Upper School are not proactive in creating events or in their communication with the rest of the student body. Often attempts to hold events feel forced, or last minute–held simply for the purpose of passing committee grades.

SADD committee, for example, attempted to create an event only after they were notified of their failing grade and their eventual impeachment.

Other committees – Social, Curriculum, and MX – have many different responsibilities throughout the year that allow the student body to hold them accountable for their bylaws. Social Committee, for example, spent weeks meeting faculty members planning for the Homecoming dance and have since spent time during and after school visiting eventual Prom locations.

MX committee spends much of their time seeking out potential speakers for every Morning Ex period, an important piece of the school community. If MX committee did not fulfill its responsibilities, it would have a profound impact on each student.

“The Weekly” feels like the disparity is common– some committees have huge responsibilities and others don’t. As they are currently run, the school does not need half of the committees that exist in student government — SADD, Model Home, Film Society. But they do allow for students to participate in Democrafest, and gain experience in campaigning and writing platforms. It’s something to put on a college application, and a fun way for students to feel involved. Heads should not have to feel pressure to put on needless events that ten people turn up to just to get a passing grade.

Student government should embrace the inconsistencies among committees. The Director of Committee Affairs should not have to police heads that aren’t putting on three events every year just for the sake of having an event. At the heart of each committee is a valid goal, be it to improve the lounge atmosphere of the Upper School, integrate new students more effectively into the community, or help save the environment. However, somewhere between those genuine goals and committees’ bylaws, the intent gets lost, and committees are reduced to holding pointless events.

An easy way to prove that you’re doing something, events tend to be put on last minute and have low attendance — because community members don’t need them! Instead, committees’ actions can and should look different for each committee. Social should continue to put on prom, MX should continue scheduling speakers, but Model Home should not have another Fall Thankful event, and SADD shouldn’t worry about having a hurried teach-in on the last day of the semester.

Instead, they should look to smaller things they can do to further the ethos of their committee. Perhaps SADD could organize a town hall about destructive decisions, or work with the health teachers to integrate the topic into the health curriculum. Environmental can plant some tree or and actually fix our plastic fork problem.

Countless opportunities remain available to our committee heads, especially if they’re not across the board expected to put on events.