Illustration by Anulfo Bermudez
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Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday March 12, 2003
Tonight at 9 in Gentle Ben's, the results of this year's Associated Students of the University of Arizona elections will be announced. In the past few weeks, students have noticed florescent fliers in the hallways and have been greeted by smiling student candidates requesting their vote. Considerable space has been given to covering the ASUA elections in the Arizona Daily Wildcat, but so what? Less than six percent of the student body voted in the primary election last week. Do undergraduates care that there is a student government that represents them? Should students take time out of their day to cast a vote at asua.arizona.edu?
Student government races too close to call
It looks like another late night for a few student government candidates. As time begins to wind down on these heated campaigns, it looks like exit polls will have mixed results. For example, in the race for administrative vice president, one poll has Victoria Ruan slightly in front of challenger Dan Suh, while in another poll, Suh appears to be gaining the upper hand. And yet one other poll has already wrapped up this race, having announced Ruan as the next administrative vice president.
Rather than erroneously announce a projected winner, this source is playing it safe and waiting until all eight votes are officially counted.
While we're on the subject, what exactly is the job of an administrative vice president? Is it the politically correct way of saying "the president's secretary"? Doesn't vice president sound just a bit more important? I'm not even sure if administrative vice president deserves to be capitalized.
Anyway, I, for one, look forward to a sleepless night as I wait in anticipation to find out who is going to be taking office next semester. I'll be very disappointed if tomorrow comes and a vote recount is needed to determine the winner.
Steve Campbell is a senior majoring in Spanish. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Politicians-to-be promote irresponsibility, don't speak for independent UA students
They promise to make our grass greener, Union food cheaper, fitness equipment more colorful, resident tuition lower, professors wealthier, clubs more diverse, rides home from the bars easier, parking tickets fewer, basketball tickets fairer, school spirit perkier and non-greeks greeker. They want to accomplish "lofty goals," to provide a "voice" for the students to "get together" and "do something."
With a budget of nearly $1 million, what'll they do? Anything, as long as they do it as a team. If they can't get University Boulevard businesses to accept CatCards to make it easier for mom and dad to pick up the tab, they'll plan a second-rate concert on the Mall or paint all the fire hydrants. If they can't stop a near-bankrupt UA from cutting a few under-enrolled programs, they'll try to stick it to "the rich" and out-of-state students. In whose name do they do all this? We the students.
They believe collective action is intrinsically better than individual action and that taking a vote is better than examining the facts. They demand unreasonable entitlements rather than remind the administration it is a business that must offer value to its paying customers and operate within its budget.
They are members of our student government, and they are irrelevant.
Erik Flesch is a geosciences junior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu
ASUA could matter if students were interested
After seeing last year's slate of ASUA senators make loads of empty promises and then give up once someone told them their platforms were unworkable, it's easy to think ASUA means nothing and has fallen into irrelevancy. ASUA could very well die a slow death brought on by a combination of poor performance by ASUA elected officials and student apathy.
Nonetheless, anyone who thinks ASUA cannot be relevant has forgotten the days when Doug Hartz was a senator who pushed issues that were important to students such as the Krutch cactus garden and the dorm upperclassmen cap. In the end, the garden was saved, but upperclassmen remained banned from dorms.
Perhaps if our student regent, Matt Meaker, had actually represented students this year and introduced President Hartz's tuition proposal, it would have been approved. If competent ASUA candidates are elected and take their platforms beyond the first bureaucrat who tries to shoot it down, ASUA can be more than meaningful; it can be a strong voice of the students ÷ a force to be reckoned with.
Kendrick Wilson is a political science sophomore. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Student government does benefit some groups, so lay off ASUA-bashing for a day
Alright, so ASUA is a bit silly. So it caters to cutthroat business majors and lawyers-in-training. So being greek is a big advantage come election time. So what?
If you're going to try to make the case that ASUA isn't worth its funding, you would be hard-pressed to justify that to 90 percent of the clubs on campus. Maybe it isn't the most noteworthy organization on campus, but that doesn't mean it's a defunct group, not by a long shot.
What's more, there's been a lot of undue ASUA bashing lately. If you need a concrete example of the ways in which ASUA benefits the campus, just look at SafeRide, a service that wouldn't exist without the oft-belittled ASUA senators. Though not all its programs are that visible on campus, it also provides invaluable aid to clubs in need of direction and funding.
Though ASUA needs to work on living up to its role as "the voice of the students"÷ by not giving an automatic thumbs up to anything the president asks for ÷ it plays an important, though unglamorous, part in organizing the inner workings of the campus community.
So why don't we give the nay-saying a break, if just for one day?
Caitlin Hall is a biochemistry and philosophy sophomore. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Student government has a long way to go to demonstrate relevance to students
Whatever their failings, the candidates in this year's ASUA elections ÷ like the candidates in every year's elections ÷ cannot be faulted for a lack of ideas. Realistic or not, this year's candidates ÷ like every year's candidates ÷ dream big.
For all the heady talk of ergonomic weight rooms and free chauffeured rides to and from bars, however, there is little evidence to suggest that UA's students are listening. Voter turnout this year ÷ like voter turnout every year ÷ is likely to be abysmal. When less than 10 percent of an electorate bothers to cast a ballot ÷ a figure lower than every Pac-10 school except ASU ÷ the system is clearly not working.
Part of the problem lies in the big ideas mentioned above, which reveal a fundamental ignorance of ASUA's role at UA and in the community. As spelled out on its Web site, ASUA is primarily charged with fund raising, administering clubs and planning campus events ÷ the grand proposals in the Student Election Guide are clearly not on the menu. By failing to understand the function of the organization they seek to join, ASUA candidates do more than create false expectations ÷ they give the impression that most of them are standing for election in hopes of stuffing resumes or launching future political careers, not because they care about the future of the university.
Phil Leckman is an anthropology graduate student. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
ASUA programs relevant but not prevalent
Although many students may not realize it, ASUA not only organizes the largest university run carnival, Spring Fling, but also provides valuable services to the student body, like SafeRide and the Women's Resource Center.
The problem is, not many students realize it.
Students don't even know what ASUA stand for (Associated Students of the University of Arizona), let alone the programs and services it provides. Most students have ridden the rides at Spring Fling or taken SafeRide around campus, but more students should take ASUA for a ride by getting involved.
By simply perusing the Web site, asua.arizona.edu, students can find that ASUA offers up anything from free legal advice from an attorney to a listing of campus clubs and activities.
The Women's Resource Center provides self-defense classes and information about eating disorders. The Pride Alliance offers a lesbian women's discussion group. Campus Acquaintance Rape Educators works to raise awareness about acquaintance rape and relationship violence. The Minority Action Council works to serve the needs of minorities on campus by addressing minority issues and encouraging minority representation within student government.
The point: If students want to get involved in ASUA, they can.
The problem: Other than SafeRide and Spring Fling, the programs go widely unnoticed.
My suggestion: ASUA needs to get the word out via a little campus advertising so that more students who want to get involved can get involved.
Jen Duffy is a journalism senior. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu
