The Student Assembly just ain’t what it used to be.

Anyone who knows about the Assembly knows about Brian Miller. For the many of us who don’t: Brian, though often at odds with some of his fellow Student Assembly representatives, took his position within the elected body seriously. He was a tome of constitutional esoterica, and whenever somebody had a question on the S.A. constitution or Robert’s Rules of Order, Brian was the go-to guy. Maybe it was a little weird, but he got the job done.

And whenever Brian proposed a resolution, it was meticulously worded to embody exactly what he wanted it to do, and why he wanted it done. He would have a mountain of evidence to back it up, and to show his opponents that he knew what he was talking about and wasn’t about to be shaken. Monday’s meeting, though, showed us how little of the Miller mentality there is to go around.

Hinman representative Eric Katz proposed a resolution to try and persuade the administration to renovate the student group offices in the Old University Union, that was sponsored by the S.A.’s Research and Planning Committee. What we’d like to know is how a committee called “research and planning” can sponsor a resolution that they never researched. One phone call would have told Katz and the committee that the Binghamton University administration already has plans, albeit slow-moving ones, to renovate the Old Union. Although we can’t be sure exactly what the fixed-up wing will house, the money has already been set aside — $14 million, to be precise.

Somehow, nobody in the S.A. thought to contact the two offices that would most directly impact construction in the Union, Physical Facilities and the University Union manager. The letter that the S.A would have written, were the resolution to pass, would have been addressed to BU’s upper administration.

Assembly reps, listen up: you complain that neither the administration nor the student body take you seriously. But if the Assembly keeps running its proverbial mouth without using its brain — ostensibly the e-board and the Research and Planning Committee — there’s little chance any resolution it passes will be taken seriously.

And going straight to the top is just plain silly. Raising our voices to the heavens — or in this case, the eighth floor of the Couper Administration Building — does nothing but show Lois, Rodger and Mary Ann that we don’t know what we’re doing. Things get done not by posturing, but by building meaningful relationships with the people who really get things done, in this case JoAnn Navarro of Facilities and Jimmy Koval, the Union manager.

To top it all off, Katz’s motivation for proposing the resolution appears self-serving: he’s in charge of a student group that needs an office. Brian Miller, although he was sometimes seen as abrasive, was never self-serving. He was always about bettering the University and empowering students.

So to the members of the Student Assembly: Do your homework. Know who to talk to and when to talk to them. Unleash the Miller within.

Editor’s note: The original version of this editorial was excessively mean to Brian, and it detracted from the point: he’s among the best S.A. reps we’ll ever see at Binghamton, and others should emulate his hard work.