Comments on: Vote No for Hype http://www.westerngazette.ca/2010/02/09/vote-no-for-hype/ The Gazette is the daily student newspaper at the University of Western Ontario in London. Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:57:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Marissa Joffre http://www.westerngazette.ca/2010/02/09/vote-no-for-hype/comment-page-1/#comment-1797 Marissa Joffre Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:13:05 +0000 http://www.uwogazette.ca/?p=4890#comment-1797 As a student (and soph) who has participated on faculty councils, rez councils, and USC committees, I can say that I have a fair understanding of how the USC runs. And - as a student who has been involved in two USC Presidential campaigns, I can say that I have a fair understanding how students vote. Let me just start by saying it isn't normally by making a chart of who has the most feasible platform ideas and who's advertising campaigns are the newest or most original. Let's not forget the other big issue involving every student on our campus: our academics. Year after year Campaign Season occurs during Midterms.. and I don't know about you, but try as we all might, it's hard to care about anything happening on campus as much as we are about our upcoming midterms. My point is that the average student is not interested in politics, or platform ideas, or original advertising campaigns. Students, if they decide to vote, are going to vote for whatever candidate has related to them the most. Maybe they love mascots, or appreciated a well-made YouTube video. Maybe a raft in the Thames is impressive. Perhaps large scale signs on UC hill is why they vote for their candidates. Maybe they really like pink and yellow, or perhaps they just want their friends to win. My point, as you can probably imagine, is that while it would be nice for elections at this school to be about serious and feasible campaigns and original and innovative advertising campaigns... most students just don't care. I know most of my friends have made snap decisions either based on who I, a somewhat knowledgeable and involved student, am advocating, or based on that "super cool thing" they saw that they believe to be connect to one candidate or another. I think the months of dedication and planning that goes into these elections shows us that each candidate, or at least those that have put in the time, can be taken seriously. It is no doubt in my mind that they will work hard for us because they have been doing it for months. A good student representative is one that knows its students, and USC Presidential Campaigns are all about each candidate demonstrating how well they know their students by developing ad campaigns and platform ideas. If you want to complain about how these elections usually go, why don't you blame the average student for not taking elections more seriously? In addition, I am proud of what Tom Stevenson, Stephen Lecce, and Emily Rowe have done in the past. Here you have 3 USC candidates who worked their buts off to get us students what we want. Maybe it's been hard to notice looking down from an ivory tower of seemingly knowing it all, but if you take an interest in looking at their years in office, you see real change. A great example is that 20$ you got back from the bus strike.. you can thank Lecce for adding that clause into our contract with the LTC the next time you see him. My position is that most of our current USC candidates have feasible, attainable platforms that show how well they know our student body. Moreover, they have a passion for this university, which is what every USC President should have. And if you think that passion ends at the platforms they put forth, I implore you to wait around and see all the other good that will come from their years in office that wasn't mentioned in their platforms. I am proud of Stevenson, Lecce and Rowe, and I am proud of all the candidates who take the time to run for these positions. They wake up every day and try to make a real contribution to this university, and most of them succeed. What do you do? As a student (and soph) who has participated on faculty councils, rez councils, and USC committees, I can say that I have a fair understanding of how the USC runs. And – as a student who has been involved in two USC Presidential campaigns, I can say that I have a fair understanding how students vote. Let me just start by saying it isn’t normally by making a chart of who has the most feasible platform ideas and who’s advertising campaigns are the newest or most original.

Let’s not forget the other big issue involving every student on our campus: our academics. Year after year Campaign Season occurs during Midterms.. and I don’t know about you, but try as we all might, it’s hard to care about anything happening on campus as much as we are about our upcoming midterms. My point is that the average student is not interested in politics, or platform ideas, or original advertising campaigns. Students, if they decide to vote, are going to vote for whatever candidate has related to them the most. Maybe they love mascots, or appreciated a well-made YouTube video. Maybe a raft in the Thames is impressive. Perhaps large scale signs on UC hill is why they vote for their candidates. Maybe they really like pink and yellow, or perhaps they just want their friends to win. My point, as you can probably imagine, is that while it would be nice for elections at this school to be about serious and feasible campaigns and original and innovative advertising campaigns… most students just don’t care. I know most of my friends have made snap decisions either based on who I, a somewhat knowledgeable and involved student, am advocating, or based on that “super cool thing” they saw that they believe to be connect to one candidate or another.

I think the months of dedication and planning that goes into these elections shows us that each candidate, or at least those that have put in the time, can be taken seriously. It is no doubt in my mind that they will work hard for us because they have been doing it for months. A good student representative is one that knows its students, and USC Presidential Campaigns are all about each candidate demonstrating how well they know their students by developing ad campaigns and platform ideas. If you want to complain about how these elections usually go, why don’t you blame the average student for not taking elections more seriously?

In addition, I am proud of what Tom Stevenson, Stephen Lecce, and Emily Rowe have done in the past. Here you have 3 USC candidates who worked their buts off to get us students what we want. Maybe it’s been hard to notice looking down from an ivory tower of seemingly knowing it all, but if you take an interest in looking at their years in office, you see real change. A great example is that 20$ you got back from the bus strike.. you can thank Lecce for adding that clause into our contract with the LTC the next time you see him.

My position is that most of our current USC candidates have feasible, attainable platforms that show how well they know our student body. Moreover, they have a passion for this university, which is what every USC President should have. And if you think that passion ends at the platforms they put forth, I implore you to wait around and see all the other good that will come from their years in office that wasn’t mentioned in their platforms.

I am proud of Stevenson, Lecce and Rowe, and I am proud of all the candidates who take the time to run for these positions. They wake up every day and try to make a real contribution to this university, and most of them succeed. What do you do?

]]>