Democracy at UNCG: SGA to Campus -- "We Lied. Your Vote Really Doesn't Matter."

Democracy at UNCG - Opinions

A lot has happened since my last published column. I must say, the absence of a campus paper has been frustrating. Even the Spartan News, which started last semester as an "alternative" news source, shunned the chance to control the UNCG news scene; since the Carolinian's last edition in November, the Spartan News has updated only once and with only one article.

Without the Carolinian, the more motivated students were forced to find alternate means of campus information. I found SGA to be handy for learning about upcoming campus events and such. I have wanted to be active in SGA since I was a freshman but was turned off by fellow students who warned me of what a snooze fest it was. But apparently, I'll do anything to get out of doing homework.

Although it may not be the normal college student's idea of a good time, it was anything but boring. Three hours of bickering over money and arguing the mechanics of the English language later, I was completely convinced that democracy doesn't stand a chance in this country. At least they accomplished something.

Aside from lengthy meetings, irrelevant arguments, and destroying my faith in humanity, I saw the basic necessity of SGA. I found it almost heart-warming to see so many students working together (sometimes) to insure the success of the entire university.

All those warm fuzzies went away, however, when election time rolled around. I was shocked to discover, in this large group of motivated, ambitious students, that there was only one person running for president and one person running for vice-president. So much for my vision of students actually caring about the future of our campus.

If I sound bitter, you'll have to excuse me. You see, I was nominated for SGA President, and then told I could not run because I had not attended enough meetings. Others were turned away because of their low GPA. This experience leads me to believe that the lack of candidates does not stem completely from indifference, but from the pointless regulations placed upon interested students.

I didn't really mind not being able to run until I realized that no one was running against Daphne Villanueva. I attended the "debate" in which Daphne told us why we should elect her for president, as if we had a choice in the matter. She and Sandy Dempsey, the vice-presidential candidate, answered basic questions on the campus parking situation, financial aid, and relating with students. I sat in the audience, not necessarily disagreeing with either of them, but yearning for a differing opinion.

For example, Daphne doesn't see a problem with the parking situation on campus. Apparently, the fact that there aren't enough spaces to accommodate everyone with a parking pass is not as important as making sure all of our freshmen are able to have passes. As a rising senior who lives on campus and is sick of having to park on the street when I come home at night, I don't see the problem with the freshman lottery that was standard when I first came to UNCG. At the very least, we should go back to having "freshman passes" so those of us with seniority don't have to park somewhere near the edge of the earth to make sure we don't get a ticket.

I would have loved to see an opposing view on the parking situation at the debate, and I'm sure plenty of other students would agree with me. The closest thing we received to contrasting ideas were Sandy's answers as to why she would make a good vice-president. Before the debate was over, I was fairly certain that Sandy was more qualified for the position of president than Daphne was, but my opinion (as well as my vote) didn't count for much.

The real losers in this situation are not those of us who were not allowed to run because we had not attended a certain number of meetings but the entire student body. How can we expect students to participate in national and statewide elections when we won't even allow them to see the benefits of democracy in their own university?

The week before "elections", signs went up all over the university urging students to vote. Daphne and Sandy plastered posters all over the EUC. Out of sheer curiosity, I logged on to the voting page, and found that there was not even a place to write in a different candidate.

What really gets to me is the fact that the people who come up with the rules for who can and cannot run are probably the same people who were stressing the importance of voting in the SGA elections. I'm sure they created the rules in order to keep people in charge who were "fit" for the job, but shouldn't they let the students decide who is appropriate? Shouldn't they allow the students to decide if a candidate's low GPA or low attendance record makes them unfit for the office?
We're supposed to be teaching students that the ability to elect our leaders is an important right that they should take advantage of, but instead, we're teaching them apathy. I say let the students decide who should represent them. I demand a recount; you should too.