Attention all students: The SGA election, one of the most chaotic times in the academic calendar, has finally arrived. We seasoned veterans who have been through this before have already braced ourselves for the inevitable inundation of fliers and Facebook messages, as well as the possibility of being run over by a golf cart. If this is your first time, get ready, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
This year’s decision is a tricky one, and everyone’s waiting on the edge of their seat to see who gets voted off the island. From the Crab Fest to the McKeldin Hall campout, Emma Simson’s administration has had a more tangible impact on the general student body than any other Student Government Association I’ve seen, and she’s leaving behind some pretty big shoes to fill.
Obviously, the candidates need to communicate to the campus why they’re equipped to pick up where this year’s SGA has left off. In theory, the campaigns of each party should be based on their platforms and the differences between them. If you look closely enough at the race, you very well may be able to find these differences. However, you might also recognize some of the characteristics of a good old-fashioned popularity contest.
That said, it always surprised me at least a little that the joke candidates (tragedy that this time we don’t have one) never actually won, although I can’t help but believe that if they tried just a little harder, they’d sweep every year. Nonetheless, the conclusion we can draw is those who vote do so because they really care about what’s happening on the campus, and kudos to them for that. The SGA is the collective voice of the university, and just like elections for the real government, it’s our responsibility to pick the right people. Of course, that leads us to our next question of how, exactly, one would come to choose one candidate over another when things can be blurry.
Obviously, it’s that incessant (dedicated?) campaigning. The problem, though, is that while campaigning matters, the substance behind it, if any, matters as well. What’s more, substance isn’t just a candidate’s platform; it’s also his or her character. The SGA represents the entire student body, and while it’s hard to judge a person’s integrity based on the frequency of his or her Facebook advertisements (actually, maybe it’s not), consider whether the candidates are people you want to call your leaders.
Some questions to ponder: Are the claims these candidates making true, and are their suggestions plausible? Just to throw an example out there, suppose a candidate asserted he or she were responsible for the entire 2006 tuition freeze, just hypothetically. What is the likelihood a single person could be the sole impetus for something so sizable? Doesn’t it seem more likely that, perhaps, there were some other people involved? Maybe that was all hypothetical, or maybe it was just an ad that didn’t have enough space to tell the whole story, but either way, credit where credit’s due. Share the love.
When it comes right down to it, the winning party always happens to be the people who have the most elaborate chalkings, the best free T-shirts and maybe an endorsement from The Diamondback. Don’t get me wrong, though. I have never once, in all my four years at the university, refused a free T-shirt, and you shouldn’t either. Besides, let’s be honest. Every election is that way, from your college SGA president to the president of the U.S. So, hey, have fun with it. Rock that free T-shirt just because it was free, and happily accept those lollipops and stickers forced on you because they’re kind of cute.
If you do decide to be one of the few thousand students who actually vote, though, vote because you trust the candidates and you like what they have to say, not because they gave you a ride on their golf cart. And in case that golf cart hurtling toward you doesn’t slow down, don’t be caught without comfortable running shoes. Just in case.
Laura Caputo is a senior physiology and neurobiology and Spanish major. She can be reached at elsie@umd.edu.
