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Imagine this: Martin Luther King trying to change the legislation and attitude of a nation regarding civil rights by himself; George Washington going one on 1,000 with the British army; Abraham Lincoln singularly attempting to unify a divided nation. Pret ty ridiculous?
Definitely, if they were attempting to accomplish their goals without the help and assistance of others. Today, it's election season 1996, and when each of us goes to the polls, we go individually: one person, one vote. How is it that we can have an impac t on the system and government under which we live?
Last week, I was in Washington, D.C. for a conference of the National Association of Students for Higher Education , or NASHE. For two days, I spent time with student leaders from Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona meeting with the legislative staff of Arizona's representatives and senators. To give you an idea of what happened, the meetings generically proceeded according to the following outline.
After introductions and stating why we were in Washington, D.C., we would present the Arizona Students' Association's legislative agenda (state work-study programs and pre-paid tuition plans), go through federal higher education issues (direct lending, Pe ll Grants, State Student Incentive Grant), and I would outline the Arizona Board of Regent's agenda (post-tenure review, review of out capital process, etc.).
Finally, we came to the "grand-daddy of them all." Since this summer, approximately 14,000 people have been registered to vote by our student associations: 4,149 at the UA, 4,756 at ASU, 4,818 at NAU and others at the branch campuses throughout the state. With these numbers, we expected to receive instant respect, attention and admiration from these people on Capitol Hill - 14,000 voters is a force to be reckoned with!
To my surprise, however, we were invariably told that registered voters and voters who visited the ballot box were two separate commodities, and then asked what we were doing to ensure that these newly-registered voters would get to the polling sites toda y. This is my attempt, my call to all students, faculty, administrators, staff and regular Joes who may read this column - please, GET OUT AND VOTE TODAY!
I learned a valuable lesson from this experience on Capitol Hill. I have always felt rather strongly about my 'civic duty' to vote, and have received satisfaction in knowing that this is a privilege - I have the freedom and right to participate in selecti ng my leaders. I did not understand, however, that by my voting, I could have a positive influence for my constituency, students in the Arizona university system.
Now I know that if students literally flood the polls in Flagstaff, Tempe and Tucson, student leaders will be taking those numbers to our representatives, and they will respond because of our collective voice. No longer will they say that "Students are im portant, but they don't vote." The tide will have turned and guarantee you that each and every one of us will benefit as a part of the university community because of our voter turnout. Maybe self-interest is not a noble reason to stop by the polling site today, but if that is what it takes to get you there, then so be it.
- Vote because you're an American.
- Vote because MTV "rocks the vote."
- Vote because it is your duty and allows your voice to be heard.
- Vote because our faculty sal aries rank at the 30th percentile in comparison to our peers - the legislature has control over the purse strings, not the Board of Regents.
- Vote because your increase in tuition next year probably won't be so high if the state will appropriate the u niversities some money next year (I do vote on that issue).
Bobby Kennedy said that "Few of us have the greatness to truly bend history itself. But if each of us selects one small part of this country and works to change one set of circumstances ... the collective efforts of all of us will write the history of thi s generation."
You do have one vote. By itself it may appear to be microscopic, but when it is com-bined with those of your peers, circumstances can be changed and you will write the history for our nation. Do it today. Go vote.
Jonathan Schmitt is an agricultural and resource economics senior and a member of the Arizona Board of Regents. He can be reached at schmitt@www.abor.asu.edu if you want to talk about your tuition.
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