The staff editorial in the Feb. 1 issue of the S&B completely missed the point. Power isn't the issue that keeps student advisors (SAs) out of SGA. The issue is sanity. The human brain can only endure so msany commitments before it implodes; this is a well established biological fact.

Each week senators must attend an absurdly long Joint Board meeting, various committee meetings, and meeting with administrators. As you can see, senators already approach the limit of implosion (boring meetings count twice as much as regular meetings). It wouldn't take many more obligations or hours spent in meetings to push senators over the edge.

If you combine the responsibilities of a senator with those of an SA the result is ... messy.

Good SAs are an integral part of the community. Aside from the visible study breaks, we also do many things that most people don't find out about. Whether it is staying up late with a dangerously drunk student, listening to somebody recount their day from hell, or taking tooth brushes and pajamas to the hospital when the plague strikes multiple members of the floor (all things I have done in the past week), being an SA is about being accessible.

We need time to be on our floors and much more importantly, we need time to just be. Just like other students we need time to be students and friends. We also need time to focus on school work and enjoying life. Asking SAs to join SGA is just silly.

The solution to SGA's lack of senators should come from within, not by dragging SAs into the fray. The retention rate for senators is quite low from semester to semester and I am sure that the amount of time and bureaucracy involved in being a senator is a huge part of the low rate for returning senators. Please be kind to your brains.

--Clare Patterson '08


Over the past three semesters, Social Entrepreneurs of Grinnell has found a way to reach outside of the Grinnell bubble and make a difference in the third world by making microloans.

Because six of SEG's loans have already been repaid, SEG has loaned out $4740-- that's 13% more than we've raised! Thanks to donations from parents, faculty, trustees, and, most importantly, YOU, we have begun a sustainable form of global activism here on Grinnell's campus that has touched 32 entrepreneurs in 19 countries.

Microloans have allowed many individuals (especially women) to receive loans that were unthinkable before. Whether it's an Iraqi business owner staying afloat in time of war or a Kenyan expanding her wholesale corn business, SEG has linked itself to a transnational web of entrepreneurs and investors.

The beauty of microfinance is its use of loans instead of donations. Instead of spending it on beer or coffee, the spare change you gave to SEG has already been loaned out twice. Within a year, it will probably be loaned out again, in a sense tripling the work that money has done.

As SEG continues to table and collect in the future, we hope that we can continue to grow our funds to make a bigger and bigger global impact. To all of you who have given in the past or will give in the future, thank you. Check out our website, www.grinnell.edu/student/seg/, or email [socentre] for more information.

--Mark Root-Wiley '09, member, SEG