Students should not be expected to trust members of the Student Government Association (SGA) to represent them properly and advocate on their behalves if the senators don’t take their own potential to make a difference on campus seriously.
What has happened during this year’s presidential elections is shameful and circus-like. Students will never understand how important the SGA presidential elections are, and the impact SGA has at the university, if the senators can’t see the significance and seriousness of their own organization. The elections are close to the disaster they were last year, despite assurances by SGA members that this year would be better.
No candidates have dropped out of the election, nor have there been grievances against candidates, but this year’s election is still out of control. It seems the senators and candidates have made a mockery of the elections with a lack of campus advertising, attacks on each other at the debates and Soleyn’s decision to suspend his campaign. After last year, who would have guessed this election would share similarly ridiculous events?
This year, some SGA members have made it more of a popularity contest than an actual presidential election that chooses the candidate best suited to represent Northeastern students. Instead of using the election to zero in on how the candidates differ from one another on specific issues facing Northeastern, they have attacked the other side.
‘Throughout the campaign he’s argued that he was the better candidate, and it surprises me that someone who thinks he’s the better candidate resigned from the race,’ said candidate Ryan Fox of opponent Matthew Soleyn in the April 2 issue of The News.
SGA members complain that students don’t pay enough attention to the organization ‘- whether it be by not coming to senate meetings or voting in the presidential elections. But how can SGA moan and groan about students not taking the organization seriously and voting when the senators themselves crack jokes at an event as serious as a debate that will help decide the next leader of the student body? How is it feasible that they can complain, yet they don’t advertise the campaigns?
One might wonder if some SGA members even cared about publicizing the election. Advertising would stress the election’s importance, especially to freshmen and transfer students who have not yet voted in an SGA presidential election. However, advertising was pretty much limited to an announcement on the myNEU portal, Fox’s dorm storming and telling students to vote for him by ‘chalking up’ walkways around campus. Soleyn didn’t even advertise his campaign around campus.
SGA already had to extend the elections once ‘- an action that also happened last year ‘- because the required 20 percent of the student body did not vote.
Furthermore, questions that arose at the debates demonstrated just how much some senators aren’t taking the elections seriously. At the final presidential debate held March 23 and sponsored by The News, SGA Senator Michael Rockland asked the candidates to share their religious beliefs ‘- a question suitable for those interested in getting married, but not for a 2009 presidential debate that chooses the person who will best represent students at a university. Rockland grew angry when Fox responded by saying the question was something he could discuss after the debate because ‘- as Rockland knew but chose to ignore ‘- it wasn’t a related subject.
If nothing else, at least Fox recognized the insignificance of the question and answered in an intelligent manner by not actually responding.
It’s a sad day for the university when even SGA senators don’t take their jobs seriously. When the senators and candidates start taking elections seriously, maybe the students will, too. But until then, don’t count on it.
