Leadership is one of those buzzwords you hear around UTM constantly, be it in Freshman Welcome Week activities or addresses by campus administrators.

It is a desirable quality to be sure, but what does it take to be a true leader?

Well for one, ambition.

That’s why it is our opinion that the “leadership pool” at UTM has dried up completely.

L.E.A.D. Academy was a much-lauded program a few years ago, touted as a way to reward student leaders in a tiered format. The UT “Scorecard,” a program introduced by a since-departed university president, sets the goal for L.E.A.D academy as 475 enrolled each semester by 2010. As of the end of last year only 175 were enrolled, a three-person gain from the year prior. Perhaps the goal is too lofty for UTM.

We again see a shortcoming with the upcoming SGA elections. Only one senate seat is contested (College of Engineering and Natural Sciences), and the Secretary General post again goes without a challenger. There are 19 students running for 23 seats in the senate, pathetic by any standard.

Have L.E.A.D. Academy and SGA become the running jokes of the campus? While this newspaper has had its fair share of laughs, it’s become more sad than anything.

The Office of Student Life has proposed a new system to wrangle in the wandering student organizations, which by and large amounts to a “greek-izing” of them. We suppose you can point to UTM’s greek system as a model of leadership, but has it really come to that?

Until someone or some group steps up with a plan to end this leadership drought, it might be best for students just to go to class, and go home. There’s nothing else Martin has to offer you.