Keeping with recent trends, the candidates belonging to the incumbent Student Association party have won the elections, sweeping all seven positions. The results are disappointing not because of the victors, but because of the lack of student turnout relative to the undergraduate population that came despite massive buzz about the elections.
Student apathy is hardly a new topic, but keeps coming up because it is difficult to explain. Some students may have legitimately avoided voting because they made a conscious decision there was no candidate they liked, but The Spectrum suspects genuine apathy kept most students away from the booths.
All of this year's races were far more competitive than in previous years, with several qualified candidates running for almost every position. There should have been a substantial increase in voter turnout from last year, when there was essentially only one viable party running for office.
There was a good deal of buzz - and in some cases genuine outrage - on campus about alleged abuses of SA funds by the current administration. Whether students believed the allegations or not, they should have gone out to the voting booths to challenge or support the current administration.
The lack of turnout could be the result of any number of factors, but The Spectrum believes the lack of community on campus was a main contributor. The candidates and campus publications did an excellent job of getting information out around campus, but without a cohesive sense of community at UB, many students take little interest in student government elections.
Great strides were made in respect to the basketball program, bringing students together with an overload of school spirit. In the weeks after the season ended, we have already forgotten what brought us together and how good it feels to have a strong sense of community. It is unfortunate that it does not extend across the different areas of the university, and it is something to work toward, especially for the incoming government.
While solving the problem of UB's lack of community is difficult, there are some far simpler steps that can be taken for the immediate future. The location of the voting machines should be reconsidered - having voting machines located only in the Student Union limits the number of students who vote. Last year's experiment with machines in Capen Hall should have been continued, and several other sites should have been explored, especially on South Campus. Voting machines in residence halls could also greatly increase turnout.
Increasing student involvement should always be a goal. Last month, thousands of students came out for a basketball game, and now a fraction of that number showed up for student government elections. In order to have a fully accountable government, students must stay aware and concerned.
Students who did not vote will have difficulty complaining if things go wrong again next year. The opportunity to affect change passed for now, but hopefully students will not continue to make the same mistake.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
