***Protip - I have opinions. Deal with it.***
As a student, I like to think I have a voice in how my college is run. We have a student government here at UAF called ASUAF, or the Associated Students of the Univeristy of Alaska Fairbanks, and they are here to be the voice of the students when it comes to campus matters.
As stated in Article I of the ASUAF constitution, they are here "To provide an official and representative student organization with powers to receive complaints, investigate student problems, and participate in decisions involving the student body." This to me means that ASUAF is here to take student concerns and hopefully be instrumental in helping settle those concerns in the most efficient way possible.
Needless to say, from what I can tell, that doesn't happen under the current administration. This is where my problem lies.
So this last week we had "elections" for ASUAF President, Vice-President, and Senate members and the chance to vote on ballot measures for the upcoming year. Now, notice that I put elections in quotation marks. Why? Because this election was a joke. It was nothing more than a joke, a sham, a waste of everyone's time. I felt embarrassed to even be a part of that process. Every incumbent position (President, Vice-President, and Senate seats B, E, F, and H) were unopposed. That's right, there was no voting really. I was pigeon-holed into one decision for every position on the ballot.
That is unacceptable. I wasn't particularly happy with ASUAF's contributions this year under the administration of Freitag and Ball, so even the option of another candidate would have been a nice bit. However, that didn't happen. Instead UAF has the same officers as last year (with a few new Senate members). How can we feel as if we have adequate representation as students if we have no choice in who's elected? I mean, there are write-in options, but in reality those are just for those people who have nothing better to say in terms of a vote.
But lets put those problems aside for a second and look at an even larger problem with the ballot. So ASUAF ballots have 3 main purposes. They have officer elections, ballot measures, and survey questions. I've already established the officer elections as a complete joke, so lets look at their second purpose. Ballot measures are supposed to be the student voice making a choice for their school on a matter that the student government has deemed to be important for the student body. This election had only one. Just one. And what was this measure you may ask? It was a measure to determine whether there should be 14 or 20 senate seats within ASUAF. Now how does that really affect the issues that plague students here at UAF?
The answer: it doesn't.
Just another reason to show why this election was a joke.... Maybe one day it will be better.
Here's a link to the ASUAF constitution
http://asuaf.org/constitution
And here's the election results
http://asuaf.org/sites/default/files/Unofficial%20Results.pdf
And an editorial in the campus newspaper speaking about the same thing
http://www.uafsunstar.com/archives/13900
As far as the ballot measure goes, it is meant to deal with the very problem that you and many other students have been complaining about. It is intended to create competition for the remaining seats available, so that students will have to put the right amount of work in to join the senate and so that voters have choices when elections role around. Also, it does help to have second opinions on the issue. The Sun Star has been (only since the appointment of Bryant as editor-in-chief I will add) quite contrary to everything related to ASUAF, and has practiced yellow journalism in the process of defending her invalid claims. So, while it is fair to say that ASUAF has some elections kinks to work out, it is also rather hypocritical to make these statements when the only source of information you cited here is from the editor-in-chief of a newspaper whose sole goal this year has been to make the student government look as though it does nothing for the students. In point of fact, Mari has done nothing but work together with student organizations since the faulty accusations were made against her. I would be curious to hear from an outside perspective what she has done poorly as President, since the primary reason that nobody in ASUAF ran against her was because of the general consensus amongst the senators that she has been and will continue to be the best person we have for the job. If you have tangible complaints, I would suggest speaking to her during her office hours. She takes student input into serious consideration. And she is a more useful person to bring concerns to as well, since part of the reason nothing has changed is because student involvement and concern in ASUAF has been low for some years now. Only by talking directly to our leaders can we expect any change to occur.
ReplyDeleteIf you read closer, you will find that I did not cite the Sun Star article as a piece of information but instead added it as a parallel point to prove that my idea is not only the voice of one. Also, while the ballot measure does address an ASUAF concern, it doesn't address a student concern. This is not a vote that will directly affect a student concern on the UAF campus, but one that will change how many seats are taken on the ASUAF Senate. Also, if you look closer at the measure and this last election, there are only 10 occupied Senate seats. Even by bringing the number from 20 to 14, that still means 10/14 seats are occupied which means the problem is still not solved.
DeleteIt is my general belief that student concerns are dictated by the things that they choose to complain about, as you have done here regarding the elections. Reducing the senate seats from 20 to 14 is not an immediate solution to the problem, as it will take a full semester to implement and needs to be combined with recruitment efforts on the part of ASUAF and the university as a whole to have the largest amount of impact. However, there is also a fine line between reducing the number of senate seats to increase competition and decreasing them to the point where students are not adequately represented. This ballot measure is so far the only proposed solution that presents a compromise to a growing problem, and I think we can be sure that whatever refinements need to be made to it to improve the function of the senate and ASUAF will be done. As a side note, I would still highly recommend speaking with President Frietag, as she is extremely personable and appreciates those students who are willing to voice their concerns with her. It seems to me that your argument here lacks any evidence against her presidency, and it would still be interesting to hear what you believe she has not done adequately and professionally as a representative of the student body.
DeleteBut how do senate seats affect me as a student (other than having less arbitrary boxes to click on the next election)? It honestly doesn't. I could care less if ASUAF had 14 senators or 50 senators so long as students felt as if they had strong representation on student matters.
DeleteIn terms of Freitag's presidency, I suggest you read through my writing again and hear it without an insider bias. By reading it, you'll understand that its not her presidency I have qualms with, but the contributions that have been made in the past year. In terms of evidence, the fact that there was only one ballot measure (and a menial one at that) shows that not much progress was made. Presidency is not made by words, but by actions.