Another ASG presidential election has come and gone – again without any real consequence. One handful of individuals celebrated the results, while another sullenly coped with disappointment. The majority of students, however, moved on without taking notice. They plausibly would have been unaware of the election if not for the abundance of sidewalk chalk. The rain that quickly washed it away seems all too fitting.
The Daily’s editorial board, in a dubiously self-important comment, gave the low voter turnout a “thumbs down” in its weekly evaluation of campus happenings. They conceded that “students may be uninformed about ASG” but insisted “that’s what Daily coverage is for.” Clearly not many students were interested enough to peruse this paper’s reporting. Apparently even fewer valued voting as that process required only a computer, netID and password. It can’t get much easier, so it evidently wasn’t a matter of inconvenience. Instead a majority of students seemingly cared that little. To many, ASG is irrelevant, ineffective and inept.
In some strange way, however, the candidates could find flattery in so few students voting. If candidates were downright divisive or wholly unqualified, ASG elections would receive much more hype and much larger voter turnouts. The fact that such a small number of students troubled to pull the lever for either ticket speaks, in a sort of underhanded compliment, to their assumed competence.
Still, the fact that a pair of freshmen running entirely as a joke (unless I grossly misinterpreted their campaign video) can garner nearly as many votes as some guy named ‘No Confidence’ is very telling about how seriously, or lightly, some students take ASG elections.
Most of the people I know who did vote based their decisions not on the candidates’ merits or platforms but on their personal allegiances to either ticket. I’m sure that some voters did their homework and made informed decisions, but when the largest campus election boils down to something slightly more evolved than a popularity contest, general apathy is not surprising.
I have not had any meaningful interactions with either Austin or Ash (aside from a class in which Austin incidentally kicked the back of my chair a couple times), but they seem like nice enough guys. I applaud their ambition and commend their commitment. I also, however, question their motives.
Northwestern students are the kind of kids who inflated their high school resumes with student government in an attempt to garner admission to elite schools. Naturally, this practice continues well into college. It’s something we all openly admit to, but the ASG presidential election is the most public and shameless form of it and this perceived superficiality is one of the election’s biggest turn-offs. I hope that A&A are in it for the noblest of reasons, but it’s not my place to say.
Fixing students’ active distaste for ASG is a futile endeavor. There are also apathetic students who simply don’t know what the organization does or how it impacts them. Is ASG the group that devises Dillo Day, or are they the ones behind the bumbling New Student Center Initiative?
If ASG truly wants to engage the student body, it’s going to require more than a weekly video address buried on The Daily’s website or routine email updates that are rarely (at best) read. Surveying students on issues they might find important doesn’t work either. We already get enough of those from the administration and friends majoring in psychology.
Austin, Ash and the rest of ASG should drop by student group meetings and explicitly tell them how their work affects them. An explanation to each sorority and fraternity on why ASG is relevant to Greek life could go a long way. Reaching out to varsity athletes is a good start to making their impact known to a particularly indifferent group. This isn’t much to ask.
A few visits and appearances certainly won’t fix all of ASG’s inefficiencies, but it will raise students’ awareness. That’s just the first step to making it matter.
Greg Swiatek is a Medill junior. He can be reached at [email protected].
