Unity is an ideal that is preached and publicly supported by many entities. Recently, Student Association candidates voiced their desire for such a reality on our campus. Candidates listed a multitude of current and potential initiatives to “get the students involved,” not only in the community, but along social and racial lines.
However, although the ideas our recent candidates had were noble, they were also a little fluffy. They sounded good enough, but there was no substantial backing for how they thought these initiatives were going to work or if they were even feasible.
I, along with others, made the observation during the 2006 campaign that all the signs and fliers about the candidates did little to help us understand what exactly elected officers will be doing.
Although reading the paper was my main source for information on the elections, I still wasn’t sure of what the platforms of the candidates were. In fact, the commentary left by former SA President Adam Telle on The Reflector Web site, in response to Jason Browne’s “SA elections do not matter” article, was the most informative source about what the SA does for students. Telle listed activities made possible by direct involvement and planning of the SA.
Furthermore, Telle said it’s the focus of the officers to try to improve the lives of every student. But Telle, like other SA officers and candidates, is still missing the point.
Telle said “prejudices and laziness have kept Browne from understanding what a resource he has.” However, it’s not just the opinion of a milquetoast minority that has this impression as Telle believes. It’s the 14,000 or so students who didn’t vote in this year’s election because they didn’t understand the role of the SA and didn’t believe it affected them directly.
Here is where the rampant apathy of the student body lies. So many have lamented about students not caring about anything and then complaining about the way things turn out.
But if we were convinced the SA plays a large role in the quality of our experiences at MSU, we would all be more inclined to voice our concerns and show support for our elected officials.
Even though there was a concerted effort to get the word out and rally support for student elections, the promising increase in voter turnout still showed a lack of campus-wide support.
This lack of support may be due to the belief voiced by Telle: “The SA could spend all its time and resources tooting its own horn during its one-year term … this is not how the SA operates. Making the public believe you’re doing a great job can overshadow actually doing a great job.”
Well, my question is how can you blame more people for not taking part in elections/activities when we are still mostly uninformed?
But enough with the blame game. There is a vicious cycle of apathy, and an effort must continue to correct it.
I had the opportunity to visit another university this weekend, and its student elections were the upcoming week. I saw fliers for a third party (the students have a traditional two-party system) called Unite. On these fliers the candidates clearly stated their platform with time tables for each initiative, indicating whether it’s an immediate-, moderate- or long-term goal.
Specific things were addressed like free printing for students, 24-hour library access, fiscal responsibility, community outreach and organizational issues. It’s not asking too much for our officials to tell us what they do to improve the lives of students and how their involvement in the meetings they attend affect us directly.
This specific type of communication will get people out to the polls and will help achieve a more diverse group of voters as well as candidates. The Unite party is made up of non-Greeks, athletes, etc., and is striving to live out its motto of “the end of politics as usual.”
MSU can achieve a similar goal and many more as well. We are The People’s University. That is our focus, and we should make every effort to live up to that.