History Main / AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil

They may be called on to settle, moderate, orbe the instigators of an IntraScholasticRivalry.

* Parodied in the GirlsLove one-shot ''You're Lovelier Than A Rose''. It has a few subtle {{Shout Out}}s and kicks to other series, such as ''Literature/MariaWatchesOverUs''.

* Somehow the school council in ''Manga/AiOreLoveMe'' can keep a student held hostage, in a cage too, until the local male school gets a better reputation.
* Turned on its head with ''Anime/AngelBeats''. Since the show is set to an equivalent of Purgatory, the Student Council represents subordinates of the Creator of said world. One of the female lead actually forms a rival organization to battle said student council. The catch? Besides the StudentCouncilPresident, most of the members of the Student Council are non-humans (referred to as [=NPCs=], placeholders of human beings who are mostly completely apathetic and oblivious to whatever zaniness occurs near them). Also, since they are simply dedicated to preserving order (which the rival organization always try to subvert), they don't do much around the school.
* The student council in ''Anime/AnimeGataris'' is shown to be always looking to take down the little anime club to the point they can on a whim order their disbandment or demand they prove their worth. Minoa at one time even regards their power to that of an anime [[LampshadeHanging production comittee]].

** {{Justified|Trope}}. The Supreme Five Swords (how the students' council is called at the Private Aiichi Symbiosis Academy) have a lot of power, including the right to carry ''swords'' on campus... Because the ''headmistress is under orders to allow it'', as the owner finds it convenient for reasons so far unknown. It's shown that while the normal teachers don't dare to interfere with their antics the Supreme Five Swords know who is actually in charge, as the one time the headmistress decides to punish their president and another one they just take the punishment. In a variation, it's stated early on they're actually supposed to be the ''Disciplinary Committee'', that after Aiichi became co-ed ended up taking up the students' council's duties alongside rule enforcement... Meaning that there may be an actual yet powerless students' council somewhere.

* In ''Manga/{{Beelzebub}}'', St. Ishiyama Academy has the Six Knights, who [[spoiler:use to]] have absolute authority over the student body, even over the actual student council. At Ishiyama High, there is no "official" student council. Instead, the "council" is the Tohoshinki, the four strongest delinquents of the entire school. Oga later on became the "StudentCouncilPresident" when he defeated all four, making him the strongest delinquent at Ishiyama High.
* ''Anime/BestStudentCouncil'': This is the premise of the show. The eponymous student council has military, law enforcement, and intelligence/ninja divisions, and is hand-picked by its president, Jinguuji Kanade, for reasons that she mostly keeps to herself. President Kanade believes in not restricting the freedom of the students, which limits the near-absolute control the council could otherwise exert.
** Part of the island split to reveal a ''missile silo'' aimed at a ''nuclear aircraft carrier'' in '''episode two''' just because a guy on the carrier annoyed the president.

* Another example of the student council using their absolute powers for good is ''Manga/CatParadise'', where its members join forces with their cat familiars to fight the minions of an EldritchAbomination to prevent it from being released and sparing mankind from its ancient wrath.
* From ''Anime/{{Charlotte}}'': [[StudentCouncilPresident Nao]] mentions that the Hoshinoumi Academy student council has special privileges which allow them to skip classes and not get penalized for it, due to the fact that they often have to go off-campus to find people with special powers.

* Remember that bit about how ''vitally important'' school clubs are in Japan? The Student Council in the ''Anime/CuteHighEarthDefenseClubLove'' manga shuts them down at seemingly random, and one of the plot threads deals with their ongoing efforts against the Earth Defense Club, which they loathe (the titular ''Bouei-bu''). Their StudentCouncilPresident, [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Kinshirou Kusatsu]], tears into anyone he even ''suspects'' of breaking rules. They also get hefty privileges - {{Custom Uniform}}s, a fancy office, even a fancy table of their own in the cafeteria. And did we mention they're also trying to TakeOverTheWorld, and are the main opponents of the [[MagicalGirl Magical Boys]] in the Defense Club?
* Definitely the case of the high school on ''Manga/DanceInTheVampireBund'' as Mina was the one who founded the school and takes it over. Much to the anger of the current student council president.
** Also fairly well justified, as Mina founded the school with very controversial plans for it. This way, instead of having to deal with continual resistance from the student body, clubs and student council, parents, teachers, the school board, news services, and the general public, she only has to deal with a student council used to suppress all the other groups and which already consists of the strongest-minded and most politically active students. They'd have been manageable even without the way things turned out.

* The Elite Ten of ''Manga/FoodWars'', who make all the important decisions of Totsuki Culinary Academy and hold higher authority than the teachers [[spoiler: and the ''deans'' themselves, causing a change of power with just a majority vote]]. The Elite Ten are approached for consultations and advice by much of the culinary world and have access to recipe collections, ingredients and cooking equipment of near-immeasurable value. A seat on the Elite Ten is considered to be more valuable than a place at the school, meaning that those who wish to challenge the Elite Ten to a [[CookingDuel Shokugeki]] have to bet ''more'' than just expulsion.

* ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'': The student council not only control the schools' funding but negotiate on an equal level with the national education authorities and can threaten to expel our heroine, Miho, for not taking up tankery as her elective [[spoiler: It's actually revealed that they weren't threatening to expel Miho, they were using ExactWords to make it sound like they were because if they didn't win the tankery championship the school would be shut down]]. In the spin-off manga ''Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu'', it is even revealed they [[spoiler:get to decide where the massive school-ship Ooarai Girls' Academy floats on gets to go. They sail southwards for Christmas.]]
** In the finale, it is revealed that student council members are graduating from high school... only for the council president Anzu to be the chairman of Ooarai, implying that she wrestled power from the previous chairman who was implied to be financially corrupt.
* In the manga ''Manga/HanaKimi'', the student heads of the three school dormitories have the combined power to veto a school authority's decision. They are also fully responsible for the conduct of their juniors and fellow classmates of the respective dormitories that they are in charge of.

* In the anime ''Anime/HappySeven'', the student council president happens to be the BigBad's henchman.
* Subverted in ''Manga/HauntedJunction'', in which the Student Council President can summon and command the school principal (who is a ghost) via a magic amulet... but is kept so busy with ghost-hunting in general that he has no time to attend classes or interact with the other students at all, much less wield authority over them.

* Justified in ''Anime/InfiniteRyvius'': all of the adults die early on, so the Zwei elite class decides to take on the leadership role.

* In ''Manga/{{Kakegurui}}'' the student council manages to establish a caste system based around gambling that requires students to pay them exorbitant amounts of money, forces students into slavery and [[ArrangedMarriage arranged marriages]], and one member of the student council even gets to freely [[AxesAtSchool carry a gun around campus]] (partially because most people assume it's a model).
* Played straight in ''Manga/KamiToSengokuSeitokai'', where most of the early part of the manga revolves around a search for a replacement for the vacant slot of StudentCouncilPresident.

* ''Anime/KillLaKill'' {{exaggerate|dTrope}}s this to hell and back; Honnouji's student council has created a straight-up fascist state and has the power to annex other schools and execute students, with even the principal being little more than a figurehead. As crazy as this sounds, this is actually more plausible than it seems considering the school is owned by the incredibly wealthy and powerful Kiryuin family, with daughter Satsuki at the head of the student council and [[CorruptCorporateExecutive her mother Ragyo]] willing to [[{{Nepotism}} enable her daughter's project]]. The school is also a Life Fiber research and development facility that cranks out [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman superpowered uniforms]], which they use to control the student body and the faculty. Satsuki herself is pretty open with how the school is run by MightMakesRight and is emulating a military.
** The glimpses we see of other schools resisting Honnouji's imperialist ambitions suggests Satsuki is only slightly more powerful than the usual student council president. Her most dangerous rival, Kaneo Takarada of Naniwa Kinman High School, controls the local economy of Osaka with his family's personal scrip and bankrolls its citizens as reserves to his school's own student military. And that's not getting into his intelligence network of gossipy Osaka grannies, or the PoweredArmor.
* Subverted in ''Anime/KnightHunters: Weiß Kreuz [[OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo Gluhen]]'': Koua Academy seems to have an Absurdly Powerful Student Council in the form of "S Class," an elite group of students who, led by EnfantTerrible Toudou, get away with murder and at one point openly declare their control over the school. They get a rude awakening 6 or 7 episodes in when [[spoiler:Toudou discovers he is the TomatoInTheMirror, has a FreakOut, and is murdered by his creator]], after which the protagonists get down to the business of ferreting out TheManBehindTheMan and The Man ''Behind'' TheManBehindTheMan from among the faculty and founders of the academy.
* ''Anime/KujibikiUnbalance'', in which the ''entire premise'' of the show consists of a group of students trying to become this, by either competing against a bunch of other teams (in the original fake TV series/real OVA) or just training (in the real TV series).
** The series takes the absurdity to new levels; the student council is not only more powerful than the faculty, but it's also more powerful than the '''government'''.

* In the feature film ''Film/PinchRunner'' (starring the J-Pop group "Morning Musume") a character fakes a suicide attempt in the girls' bathroom. She is "treated" in the school nurse's office by a classmate who is a sort of junior-trainee doctor, with the rest of the Track and Field Club in attendance. Despite the liters upon liters of fake blood splashed all over the bathroom, the nurse's office, and three different girls' uniforms -- and all seven students apparently skip class for the rest of the school day -- there is no indication that the adults at the {{two teacher school}} (or the girls' parents, for that matter) ever learn of the affair.
* ''Film/TheHairyBird'':
--> '''Abby:''' Odette Sinclair, the Committee has decided not to recommend expulsion and to give you another chance. However, you are grounded for the remainder of the school year.
--> '''Odie:''' I would like to rebut.
--> '''Susie:''' You're not allowed a rebuttal.
--> '''Odie:''' It's a filibuster. I have the floor.
--> '''Abby:''' We don't allow that either.
--> '''Odie:''' What is this, a junta?

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* Averted in the ''Series/OneHundredThingsToDoBeforeHighSchool'' episode "Run for Office Thing!". CJ promised to add one minute between classes while running for class president. While she lost, the eventual winner did accomplish this task by convincing the school board.
* In ''Series/{{Awkward}}'', there is the [[AsianAndNerdy Asian mafia]], led by Becca, that engage in elaborate {{Batman Gambit}}s to eliminate anyone in their way. [[spoiler:When Ming gets Becca suspended and inadvertently becomes the leader, we find out that the Asian mafia has an even more ridiculous amount of power than previously seen. Ming is given a phone with which she can call only one number, that will give her anything she asks for.]]
* In ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'', during the shooting episode, Jay says "When your girlfriend's student council vice president, nobody asks questions." Otherwise, they limit the student council to what a student council would be involved in, raffle tickets and dances. That being said, the student council is apparently unsupervised and the StudentCouncilPresident is widely respected and the student council races are intense. In the same vein, composition of the "Spirit Squad" (cheerleading team) is determined solely by the head cheerleader, with no faculty input. Her decisions are final.
* Played with in ''Series/EverybodyHatesChris''. Chris runs for class president and wins after promising that he'll do his best to bring actual change, only to be told that he can't actually do any of the things he said he would try to get done (which, according to a flashback, included putting cherry kool-aid in the water fountains). However, after he's impeached and replaced, his replacement immediately succeeds in getting this done.
* The student council in ''Series/TheHardTimesOfRJBerger'' handles the entire student body's budget and uses the money to fund the athletic department's new uniforms and shoes while depriving other clubs of funds and tearing apart the drama club's sets and removing a wheelchair ramp and making scrap wood.
* ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'' in its [[HighSchoolAU High School AU]] translation of ''[[Series/KamenRider555 Faiz]]'', has the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Lucky Clover]] as this. The ''Absurdly Powerful'' part gets literal as the Lucky Clover is a group of powerful [[MonsterOfTheWeek Orphenoch]].
%%* In ''Series/KidNation'', the entire city was run by children. Some of the children acted in accordance with this trope. <-- Zero Content: exactly HOW do they do so?

* Averted in ''Series/OurMissBrooks''. Harriet Conklin is Student Council president, and she seems to have no power whatsoever. Her father, Mr. Conklin, [[RepressiveButEfficient runs Madison with an iron fist]]. Similarly, Walter Denton is on the student council, editor of the school paper, and manager of half the school's varsity teams. He has, if possible, even less power. In "Trying to Pick a Fight", Walter calls an extra skull practice. Mr. Boynton chews him out for exceeding his authority.
* Yearbook edition in ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide''. Moze realizes there is not enough money to publish a nice yearbook, so on her own it seemed, contacted a cell phone company CVC Global net first to sponsor the yearbook. Then she sold them the rights to have the mascot to make more money for the yearbook. Finally, she sold them the rights to rename the school to CVC Global Net Middle School.
* Student hierarchy in British public boarding schools is often portrayed in fiction. It is parodied in the ''Series/RippingYarns'' episode "Tomkinson's Schooldays" with the one-person version of this with Grayson the School bully. "School Bully" is his official title; he's won a Bullying Cup and a "kick-in of fags", and parents send their sons to the school partly to be bullied by him. He also has some significant influence outside of the school, for example in the Church of England. "Absurdly powerful" could not be a more apt description.

* Subverted in ''Series/{{Room 222}}'', where a student-council member was critiqued for simply ''recommending'' the school student council having the power to have input on a school's textbooks, or on removing a bad teacher in extreme cases.
* Subverted in ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'', when Jenny runs and wins (with Sabrina's help) for class president on a platform of real change, only to find out she could not she had no authority to fulfill any of her campaign promises, only had authority over things she didn't care about like lunch menus, and that high school elections are little more than a popularity contest. She gives the position to Libby, who believes the premise.

* The Yearbook Committee variation is subverted in ''Series/TheWonderYears'', in which Kevin, giving into peer pressure, puts a disparaging quote by the picture of a likable but overweight friend. He agonizes over the effect this will have on his friend, only to find that the school administration, learning of the quote, has it removed and tells off Kevin.
** Also played straight in the episode in which Kevin finds himself elected to the student council: he was in the bathroom, and his classmates took advantage of his absence to elect him. It was one vote for Mr. Ed, two for Ringo Starr, and the rest for Kevin. He then gets mixed up in calls for a walkout to protest the war in Vietnam, with the realistic result that the principal threatens all concerned with suspension and a mark on their permanent record.
* Played with on ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision''. In the outro to the "Opposite Skits" segment, Justin is running for StudentCouncilPresident and makes the most outrageous claims:
--> '''Justin:''' ...and, if you elect me Class President, I guarantee--repeat, ''GUARANTEE!''-- that Wind Surfing will become a credited course! (Cheering from the class) I promise free video games in the cafeteria! (Cheers) And most of all, I promise rock and roll piped into the hallways!

* Subverted in ''Series/ThePolitician''. The election for class president is seen as SeriousBusiness from the perspective of Payton, his campaign staff, and his rivals, but practically ignored by the point of view character in the LowerDeckEpisode "The Voter". Payton finds upon taking up the office that the school board is unwilling to enact any policies he brings before them.

* In ''Manhwa/{{Veritas}}'' the student council can organize death matches.
** Justified by the fact that the president is the leader of Heaven's Riches, (and therefore the most powerful person in the martial arts community) and there are no teachers at all.

* Not stated outright in ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'', but, considering the elaborate class presidential elections, and the extreme levels of power the Head Boy is implied to have, one has to wonder...
* In ''VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice'', the dean of the Maritsu Evil Academy is also the overlord, meaning they rule the world.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', the Disciplinary Committee is a student-run committee in Balamb Garden that exists to enforce the Garden's rules among the students. Though perhaps it wasn't a good idea to allow Seifer and his "posse" to run it, as they use their power to bully and harass other students without fear of getting into trouble for it. It is also implied that they have some sort of "hit list" that even the school's instructors aren't safe from.
* ZigZagged in ''VideoGame/HighSchoolStory''. While you can have members of the student government, they themselves are not very powerful. '''You''', on the other hand, seem to be the entire board of education condensed into one little teen.
* In ''VideoGame/NewGundamBreaker'', the Student Council of Gunbre High School absolutely ''rules'' over the school, to the point where you and your team of beautiful high school girls create a rebelling Gunpla Battle Team, Side 0, to trounce the Council and take back the school. [[spoiler:When you finally meet the Student Council President, you find out that all of this was done to find a powerful opponent to fight and that, in the past, the player character had actually beaten him. Once he has a HeelRealization, he dissolves his corrupt team and you and many of the others take over with their own.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Robopon}}'', while Bisco is a bully, he and his gang hold sway over Libra School's teachers and principal.
* Sekolah Menengah Cipta Wiyata in ''VideoGame/{{Troublemaker}}'' is a Jakarta high school whose student council somehow has ''higher'' authority than the principal and faculty, with their chairman, Ricco, leading his cronies in pummeling the snot out of any students who crosses them the wrong way. Somehow they're powerful enough to have all reports of school violence buried.

* In ''VideoGame/WintermoorTacticsClub'', members of the Student Council are allowed to carry swords and appear to be omniscient. In particular, Alicia is terrified of their leader, who has her own unique theme, and she will refuse to approach her- which can interfere with some Quests, since she has a habit of hanging out in plot-relevant areas.
* The student council in ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' combines this trope with YellowSashOfPower, as the student council, headed by the final rival, Megami Saikou, has the authority to stop and punish troublemakers by reporting them to the councilor or, in extreme cases, pepper spraying the perpetrator herself. Killing a student council member causes Megami to take more extreme security measures, such as metal detectors and security cameras, to catch evildoers. It will eventually be possible for Yandere-chan herself to join the student council, with the benefits of being able to ask favors of students without befriending them, be thirty minutes late to class without punishment, be able to go anywhere except the boys' bathroom without being considered a trespasser, not be so easily noticed when doing questionable actions, and one unknown benefit that only kicks in when Megami returns to school after her leave of absence. ''Joining'' the student council, however, requires a number of difficult requirements before they'd even consider it, and ''staying'' in the student council requires Yandere-chan to attend ''daily'' meetings and perform five tasks a week, which cuts into the time needed to eliminate rivals.
* The student council of ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'' has control over the different clubs, organisations, and groups the students can be part of. All perfectly normal student council stuff! Except that this school is designed for raising and promoting {{Idol Singer}}s, and the make-up of these idol groups is ''also'' within the council's purview. This means that the council - and particularly its president, Eichi - have a ''huge'' amount of control over all the students' current careers and reputations, which may follow them for the rest of their lives. As it happens, before the player character transferred in, this power was ''absolutely'' abused to promote the president's group. However, over the course of the main story, a plucky group of second-years manage to reverse this and cut back most of this power. The student council remains an intimidating presence over the following stories, but not nearly to the same extent as before.

* {{Downplayed}} in ''Literature/ReignOfTheSevenSpellblades''. The student council and its president do have some power, but it's mostly soft power over the school culture and whatever respect they personally have as mages: Alvin Godfrey is liked by most for running the Campus Watch which works to keep the more malevolent upperclassmen from posing a threat to new students, while his right-hand Carlos Whitrow runs a club for students with [[SexMagic gender identity- and sex-linked magical traits]]. The council is vastly outweighed in authority by Headmistress Esmeralda.

* In VisualNovel/{{Nukitashi}} the SS (SHO students) commitee serves as both the school council and the disciplinary comittee of Minotsuki Academy. Its members are on a special scolarship from Seiran Health Organization in exchange for enforcing the pervert sex laws. They organize large-scale promiscuous events and competitons, often with the intention of catching the anti-copulation front. Some SS students, including Ikuko and Rei, lead military battalions that employ riot guns to suppress rebels who don't conform to promiscuity.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad''. After Steve is elected StudentCouncilPresident, the first thing he does is to kick the principal out of his office by way of a school statute. The principal concedes that he's powerless to do anything; in fact, he's happier that Steve is able to read.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BromwellHigh'', the student council president is given absolute power, even above that of the headmaster, though this is only discovered by digging through the school records. Lampshaded with a comment about naive optimism.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh'': the most important decisions that the Student President made were the placement of rugs in the library.
* Although you don't see how ''powerful'' the class rep is, the electoral campaign in ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' looks like SeriousBusiness.
* In ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' the student council president has his own office, can use powerful technology to force kids into school on snow days, and can ''declare war'' on other grades. They apparently can debate with the school board on a few issues as well. The safety patrol/hall monitors act like a police force, arresting students and keeping them in detention.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' subverted this by rendering Lawndale's student council invisible save for its President, EnsembleDarkhorse Jodie Landon, who kept mentioning being in the student council whenever she appeared on-screen.
* The class treasurer election in ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' was such SeriousBusiness that, for Doug, Skeeter donated old campaigning materials from his uncle Dan Freebird (his justification being having the same initials as "Doug Funnie"), and his opponent's father, the ''Mayor of Bluffington'', used his own campaign for re-election to parade his son around. Unfortunately, this distracted the Mayor from his own election, causing him to lose on a landslide. And [[spoiler:Dan Freebird]] was elected class treasurer.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', the StudentCouncilPresident can cut in line (with a springboard to any student that doesn't let them), has his own bathroom stall and office, his own security detail, and apparently has important duties. This might be where the popular kids' bodyguard comes from as well.
* X Middle School in ''WesternAnimation/{{Fillmore}}'' has a variation; in this school, it's an Absurdly Powerful Safety Patrol, which is basically a student-run police force that enforces all of the school rules and runs like a real-world police force. They take it upon themselves to make sure their fellow classmates play nice. Though it's made clear on multiple occasions that they answer to the teachers, or at least the principal.
** In "Links in a Chain of Honor" , the eighth grade student council President has the authority to buy truckloads of foam fingers for the school and is in charge of appointing the sixth grade student council officials rather than let them be chosen by election. The episode "A Forgetten Yesterday" also reveals that the student council can issue search warrants, while a student council president candidate in "Two Wheels, Full Throttle, No Breaks" indicates that he'd have the power to disband the safety patrol if he wins the election.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'', the president's job is to sing the school's praises and never say one single word against it... or else.
* Averted in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Crusaders of the Lost Mark". Pipsqueak wins the election for StudentCouncilPresident on his promise to get their playground fixed, destroyed when Tirek went on the rampage back season 4's finale. However, when he tries to pull it off, he finds out he can't because they don't have the money to do so. It's implied they ''might'' have had Spoiled Rich, a member of the School Board and Diamond Tiara's mother, stepped in but didn't because Diamond Tiara lost and this was petty revenge. Pipsqueak can't even pay for this with his family's own money. It ultimately takes Diamond Tiara finally [[CallingTheOldManOut Calling the Old Woman Out]] to get the money.

* Zig-zagged in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "The President Wore Pearls". Upon being elected StudentCouncilPresident, Lisa expects to have a say in the school's affairs. However, Chalmers and Skinner sidetrack her by turning her into a glamorous Eva Peron lookalike and tricking her into authorizing the elimination of music, art, and gym -- although the fact that they apparently ''need'' her approval to do this plays this trope pretty straight. Doubly subverted when Lisa uses her moral authority to call a student strike, ultimately reversing the cuts. Chalmers ultimately explains to her that student government is meaningless, and their constitution is just written on the back of a placemat from [[BurgerFool some place called "Doodle's"]].
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' when Cartman becomes a school announcement reader, he tries to turn the entire school against StudentCouncilPresident Wendy. In the end, Wendy, who unlike Cartman knows how little power her position actually has, gets revenge upon Cartman by appointing him her replacement after resigning from Student Council, which effectively costs Cartman his job as announcement reader. Cartman's defeat is made worse when he discovers the lack of power the Student Council actually has and his replacement as announcement reader is now crucifying Cartman for not fixing any of the school's problems.
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/YoureNotElectedCharlieBrown'', in which after Linus becomes class president, his attempts to make sweeping changes are met with the principal explaining that he doesn't really have any significant power.

* In ''New Gundam Breaker'', the Student Council of Gunbre High School absolutely ''rules'' over the school, to the point where you and your team of beautiful high school girls create a rebelling Gunpla Battle Team, Side 0, to trounce the Council and take back the school. [[spoiler:When you finally meet the Student Council President, you find out that all of this was done to find a powerful opponent to fight and that, in the past, the player character had actually beaten him. Once he has a HeelRealization, he dissolves his corrupt team and you and many of the others take over with their own.]]

* ''VideoGame/BlueArchive'':

** The General Student Council has authority over the whole central Kivotos, while individual schools have their own student councils, which are basically the political head of the school's region in all but name.
** It is important to note that the General Student Council, while technically being the managers for the infrastructure required for Kivotos to function, does not have direct power over individual school's student council and its member, while most schools look down at GSC as an organization due to their inability to manage Kivotos in its time of need before Sensei's arrival. In fact, SRT Academy and SCHALE is specifically made by the former GSC President to circumvent this limitation by being outside GSC's authority. Conversation with various character revealed that the former GSC President was a "superhuman" who was able to garner the trust of everyone, which is presumably how GSC was able to perform its functions compared to the state it is currently.

In real life, power in any [[UsefulNotes/AmericanEducationalSystem American]] and Canadian school is in the hands of the principal, the faculty, and the school district. And of course, each school is subordinate to the power of state and federal courts. In [[UsefulNotes/BritishEducationSystem England and Wales]], it lies with the Headteacher, the Board of Governors, and the Local Education Authority. Other jurisdictions, including Scotland, may have their own arrangements. However, in order to create the illusion of students having power over their lives, student councils are forged. In truth, these groups are largely figurehead posts: the only power they have is superficial. The actual election of these groups is basically one big popularity contest, and the only benefit is a student council checkmark on your college application under "extracurricular activities" and an extra picture in the yearbook.