Editorial
Arizona Daily Wildcat
December 2, 1997

Laying Blame

When you lose, blame someone else.

Recent letters to the editor and murmurings around campus have reflected a "blame the Daily Wildcat" mentality toward the failure of the Student Union Referendum.

After a record number of students turned out to vote down the $40 per semester student fee to renovate the Student Union, many advocates of the referendum depicted the Wildcat as a driving force behind its defeat.

Newspapers don't decide elections. Voters do.

In a democratic society, newspapers play the role of middle man between the government and the general public, giving voters relevant information about the bureaucratic proceedings that affect their daily lives.

As such, the Wildcat serves the campus community by reporting on student government, the university administration and the Board of Regents.

The referendum was the biggest on-campus issue to affect the student body this semester. To provide voters with a breadth of information and opinions on the issue, the Wildcat contributed extensive news coverage, space for guest columns, letters to the editor and even an online website completely devoted to the referendum.

ASUA President Gilbert Davidson wrote a guest column to voice his support for the student fee. Countless letters from members of ASUA, administrators and the campus community at large - for and against the referendum - ran in theWildcat.

Even President Likins had an open invitation to express his views in the Wildcat. but waited until after the vote to take up the offer.

Now that the dust has settled, Davidson and a handful of student leaders and administrators have asserted that the Wildcat misled voters and swayed the results.

Quite the contrary. The referendum failed because its proponents did a poor job of representing their case.

Up to the end, they couldn't even explain what students were getting for their $40.

The referendum failed because they couldn't provide answers, not because a newspaper misrepresented their views.

Elections officials were expecting about 2,500 students to participate in the two-day vote. Over 4,400 voters turned out. Over 70 percent voted against the student fee.

The number of voters who chose sides on the ballot indicates that students were informed and cared about the issue. Better informed voters tend to turn out in larger numbers.

Perhaps proponents of the referendum would have preferred that a mass of drooling idiots show up at the polls.