CBU SU Elections

On February 13 and 14, students at Cape Breton University will vote for their union’s next president and vice president. As it stands right now, there is one team running. Each year our union holds general elections around this time and each year a small and insignificant percentage of the student body turns out to vote, I will never understand this phenomenon.

I fear that this year’s union elections will continue this worrisome trend because the 2008 General Election has only one team running for president and vice president. There was a second team, but they were disqualified. What has resulted from their disqualification is a yes/no vote for the only team still standing. The team that was disqualified believes that they were treated unfairly and that the process was slanted against them. In response to their perceived injustice, they began what, at the time of writing this column, was an unofficial vote no campaign.

So what happens if the majority of students vote “no”? The election machine will have to be restarted, nominations will be opened again and then there will be another campaign and another vote. It will mean more work for those involved, but if that is what the majority of students want, then that will be what happens.

By the time you read this it will be Monday and half way through the campaign. If you do not know how to vote, there is still time to figure it out. There will be a public debate, the candidates will be out in classrooms public speaking and you can ask them questions directly when you see them around the school. What is most important is that we get involved in the process: ask questions, make your decision and place your vote.

Our students’ union is given the task of managing close to 500,000 dollars of our money; however, each year, students actively fail to participate in the process that decides where and how that money will be spent. I am sure we could understand the problem that is manifesting itself in student organizations throughout our region as a smaller example of the voting trends that plague our age group, the reason that no politician or statesman will ever take us as a serious threat.

Most people our age share a common cynicism about politics: they do not believe they can trust politicians and, therefore, do not believe there is any reason to vote. At the student level, they look at the last three scandal plagued years of the CBU Students’ Union and ask, “Why bother?”
Students, and young people in general, have become so alienated by the political system they ave decided to give up on changing the political system. Indeed, they do not even try to rage against the corruption that, they believe, is inherent in the system and democratic process. I, for one, have never understood this approach.

Plato wrote that, “The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” The only way to change the political system and avoid the fate of which Plato spoke is with a check mark next to a candidate you think can actually initiate change.

On February 12 and 13, make sure you bring your Driver’s License, CBU Student ID or some other type of photo ID and place your vote.

Originally published in the Cape Breton Post on Monday, February 11, 2008.