Student Government elections a farce
John Litle
Frankly Obnoxious
Aaaahh. Refreshing. It's that time of year when campus urinals fill with the campaign propaganda distributed by over-eager candidates seeking student government office, not to benefit us students, but rather to pad their own resumes. Who will you vote for? The candidate promising air conditioning for all students (he might as well promise cheese from the moon)? Blah!
Who cares about these things? I propose that not one candidate has stated even one relevant issue on their platform. Why? Because student government is a total joke. It's a farce. They have no influence on the administration, they are simply a body instituted by the administration to appease students — you think you have a voice, so you're quiet. Well, maybe. I don't even think most of the sheep on this campus are convinced by this ruse.
Why can't someone have a legitimate platform? I'll tell you who I'd vote for. I'd vote for whatever candidate brought up a real issue — say academic free speech (we don't have it you know) — and then promised not to back off the issue. I would vote for the candidate who promised to dissolve student government in protest of its total lack of relevance on campus. That's what would get me excited about student government. Not a laughable flex options plan that has the same chance of happening as the bookstore lowering prices, or Bill Kirk riding around campus on a unicorn.
It amazes me how any campaign can be run with a 150-member staff and still not address a single issue that matters to students. I guess politicians are the same at every level of the game. Heck, I'm not even running for office and I can come up with better than these goons who've been planning this since November.
Here's another platform I could stand behind. It would be nice to gain some student rights at ResLife hearings. Right now, they can trample you into the ground. They can expel you even when you have an e-mail from your assistant rector exonerating you from the crime. Wouldn't it be a little more equitable if there was at least some student representation in a ResLife hearing? Maybe a panel of students and administrators? I realize that it is likely that nothing can be accomplished here, but wouldn't it be nobler to fail to help students on a legitimate issue than to fail to deliver a "hip-hop" day?
Student government might as well be Pax Christi for the effect they have on the administration and on student's lives. Actually, that's not accurate. The administration has to send out workers to spray Pax Christi's mindless drivel off the sidewalks. Student government doesn't even get a cleanup crew.
Something needs to change, and I'd like to see a candidate dedicate themselves to something important and difficult, not something impossible or irrelevant. Let's see a student membership on ResLife panels; let's see some academic free speech; let's see someone taking a stance for the lack of student input in how our school is run. Who cares about a video game tournament, I can arrange that in my room in 10 minutes.
John Litle is a junior MIS major who would really appreciate working for your company this summer. He has researched your company, and it really is the best fit for him. He couldn't imagine being happy any place else. His column runs every other Tuesday, and he can be contacted at jlitle@nd.edu
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, February 5, 2002
