Community Council at SHS faces controversial decisions

Recent controversy at Souhegan High School over Fang Fest has led to questions of what exactly the definition of representative democracy is and how student voice is represented at the school. During the junior class forum the week of Feb. 8, when the Community Council explained what the schedule for Fang Fest was going to look like and announced the theme for the juniors, many students voiced their opinions on the removal of skits from the school’s annual spirit week. Some of their comments related more to the nature of the school’s government – specifically, that they feel their voices aren’t being represented accurately by those they elected to the council last year. Representative democracy is defined as “a type of government in which citizens allow elected officials to represent them in government processes.” There is a catch, though – do the elected officials vote based on the opinions of all the people they’re representing or do they vote for the greater good of said people? This is a difficult question to answer, especially when posed to a governing body such as the Community Council. Faculty council member Tom Sawyer, who teaches ninth-grade social studies, brought up the idea of voting for the greater good during the first Community Council meeting at which Fang Fest skits were discussed, during what he said was “the most interesting discussion I have ever taken part in during my time on Community Council.” He related his comment to the views of philosopher and political theorist Edmund Burke, who, as an elected member of Parliament, contended its members should “exercise judgment” rather than simply follow their constituents’ desires. Sawyer wasn’t necessarily stating an opinion with this comment; he was simply planting yet another seed in student representatives’ collective minds. He said he believes the “council reps did an awesome job representing the student body” and that they “made the more reasonable decision” under the circumstances. The nature of this decision put a lot of pressure on student representatives. The most vocal students were in support of the skits, but as representatives of their entire grades, they also had to consider the opinions of those who weren’t speaking up. Executive Council member Bobby Graham said that during the decision-making process, “It was very difficult to balance the ethical implications of keeping skits with the desires of our constituents.” Ultimately, after a vote and an appeal of the resulting decision a week later, skits were eliminated from Fang Fest, spurring much controversy in the school and leading to many students protesting that their voices weren’t accounted for in the decision. Here is where the situation becomes even more complex, though: If the school used direct democracy in making decisions like this one, every single voice would be represented through votes. However, direct democracy presents several immediate problems – specifically, in logistics and in that the minority can easily be overwhelmed by the majority, removing their voice from the decision. Then the entire argument comes full circle: Somewhere along the way, someone’s voice is lost or people believe they weren’t represented accurately by their representatives – the same kind of situation that often happens with our national government. While the question of whether representative democracy is based on the representatives’ judgment or solely upon their constituents’ opinions, students should at least respect that this was a difficult decision for many student representatives and that both positive and negative viewpoints were taken into account before the decision was made. With this in mind, it’s hoped Souhegan can move away from the controversy surrounding this decision and enjoy Fang Fest as what it is meant to be: the school community coming together to celebrate Souhegan. Hannah Dean is a junior at Souhegan High School in Amherst.