For a group of kids who spend their Friday nights at the library and claim to be well informed, Northwestern students can be fairly oblivious to things happening right under their noses.
America’s future leaders are about to be taught the most basic of political lessons: He who hath no vote hath no power.
Evanston City Council will consider maps next month to redraw the borders of the city’s nine wards, each of which is represented by one alderman on City Council.
At present NU’s campus is divided into two wards, the first and the seventh. But if the council goes forward with a recently devised redistricting map, some students on South Campus will be moved from the First Ward to the Second Ward, diluting students’ influence in city politics even further.
It’s difficult to determine how many NU students aren’t registered to vote or — like me — are registered to vote in another state. But it’s safe to say the student voting bloc in Evanston is small enough to make its effect on the current redistricting debate meaningless.
Don’t believe me? Consider the following.
When the redistricting discussion began in August, both students and black residents complained that early plans would leave both of them with reduced influence.
By the time September rolled around, alds. Arthur Newman (1st) and Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd) had agreed on a proposal to maintain black prominence in the Second and Fifth wards.
The proposal also splits NU’s campus into three wards by literally dividing the sorority quad in half.
So within a month the desires of one group were met, while those of the other were completely ignored.
Coincidence? I think not.
It’s not that Associated Student Government, which has at least two proposals in the works that would maintain students’ influence, is ignoring the situation.
It’s just that anything ASG does will fall on deaf ears because the aldermen, like all politicians, don’t care too much about non-voting constituents, especially those who pee on the lawns of their voting constituents.
And the problem is just going to get worse.
Once the three-ward-campus proposal goes through — as it undoubtedly will — students will lose almost any chance to affect the legislative balance of the council.
Students have basically lost this round already, so it’s more important to look to the future to think of ways ASG and the rest of the student body can influence this town. There won’t be another municipal election until April 2005, so registering to vote in Illinois won’t do much until then.
A better idea would be for students outside of ASG to start attending council and other civic meetings on a more regular basis.
Most local politicians respond best to direct feedback, and nothing works better than a horde of angry, frustrated residents, even if they are students.
As long as ASG officials and university administrators are the only voices of NU to the council, the pattern of complain and fail will continue. Only when the general student population makes its voice heard, will the city’s government listen.
And if that doesn’t work we can always retreat to the comfort of our library. Hey, if we all lived there this whole gerrymandering thing would be a lot more difficult.
