I hope I will not get too many angry comments or emails for writing this post but after spending 4 years at Queens College and seeing how student government elections are run I think that there is a serious need for reform. I am really annoyed at this time of year when I am consistently harassed by members of both United People (UP) and the Democratic Student Alliance (DSA) to vote and have to seriously plot alternative, longer routes to my classes in order to evade these people.
Some major problems that I have witnessed with this regard to election process are:
1. Party members attempt to exhort votes from the student body and are often very rude– If you see students who are really busy with work do not suddenly interrupt them to demand for votes or to interrogate whether they have voted or not. Also those who are obviously in a hurry to get to class and deliberately try not to make eye contact do not want to be bothered or stopped either.
2. Those party members who respond by insisting that the voting process only takes about “2 minutes” have entirely crossed beyond the line of rudeness all together. Suggesting that students can finish in that short amount of time and quickly move on with their lives is essentially an encouragement for students to make a rash, uninformed decision about which person/party to vote for. This demonstrates that the vote solicitor only wants you to sign into your account and click a couple of buttons in order to get your vote. Even more problematic is how this process sends a terrible message to students about how to behave in real political elections. Do we really want students to come away from college thinking that one should just stop by a voting booth for 2 minutes and vote for who ever without getting informed first? Candidates constantly emphasize the importance of voting but can something that “important” be finished and over with in 2 minutes?
3. While some party members do take the time to explain a little bit about their campaign platform, students are rarely if ever presented with both sides of the story. How can students make an informed decision by just hearing about the plans of one party and not the other?
4. There is also a pervasive bitter sense that the members of student government do not really care about the student body at all because they only come around trying to exhort votes during campaign season so that they can conveniently be elected. The fact that both parties just wait until this time of the year to talk to students suggests some ulterior, selfish motive (to boost their own resumes perhaps?). I apologize if there is a campus policy I am not aware about that restricts campaigning activities to a certain time of year but I do not see the problem of, for example, surveying the student population to see what changes they would like implemented, to show that our “elected” leaders actually care about us…
Some suggestions for reform:
1. Parties should hold more open campus-wide debates so that students can learn about both campaign platforms. It will also force electoral candidates to deeply examine the problems and potential areas for improvement in the policies of former office holders, rather than just wheedling and demanding votes without adequate justification. In this way students can also make informed voting decisions that will translate a positive message of how they should approach actual governmental elections. If these debates are currently being held then they seriously need to be publicized or scheduled at a time and place where most students will be present to absorb this information. I suggest the usage of the stage in the QC Dining Hall during free hour and at as many times as possible during election season.
2. At these electoral information sessions or debates there can be an announcement following the presentation for students who are interested to come up and vote. In this way maybe we can prevent over-harassment of students for votes.
3. I see some poster efforts by both parties detailing some of the policies they intend to implement if voted into office but there needs to be more creative ways of getting these ideas to students. Flyers might be one start where information is given but without the demanded reciprocity of votes.
Although I understand the need for party members to physically approach students to secure votes I think that it can be done in a more informed and less rude way. I apologize for my rather angry tone and if this post seems like a long rant about student election politics (this is the culminating frustration of living through 4 years of this madness) but I do believe that there needs to be serious reform with this system because I have not witnessed that much change over the years which is really sad and distressing. (Also for those who are interested or wondering, I do vote but on my own time when I can actually read each party’s campaign platform at my own leisure to make an informed decision.) From what I have seen both UP and DSA are deeply complicit in these problematic campaign tactics so it would be especially great if those members can respond to my post.
I also encourage others to enter this discourse about QC student election politics and suggest your own ideas for possible reforms or to even support the current system if you think that my charges are entirely unfounded.
