Advice for student election season

BY MIKE REES

USUSA elections are coming, and they’re coming fast. The deadline for application packets is Jan. 26. I’ve noticed over my years at Utah State a broad spectrum of attitudes regarding the student leadership at USU as well as the elections that determine the leadership. Specifically in terms of election season, these attitudes range from cynicism bordering on contempt to outspoken support in favor. In the middle is the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed freshmen and the nonplussed, uninvolved students who don’t give a rip about much.

In this article I’d like to address three groups of people who I think could use some words of wisdom. If you’re reading this, you most likely fall into one of these categories: one who is about to run for an office, one who is still considering running and one who is about to go through the elections process as a spectator. This is coming from someone who has been involved in three elections in various roles and cares deeply about the concept of student involvement.

First: Those about to run for office. It takes some serious hutzpah to look at yourself in the mirror and say, “I can make a difference,” and then back that up by spending basically all the time you have trying to convince a lot of people who don’t know you of that truth. Congrats on making that leap of faith. With all due respect, here are some things that you don’t need in your campaign efforts:

• Brown-nosy tweets/posts about how much you love USU. Frankly, we all know what you’re up to, and nine times out of 10 that just comes off as disingenuous.
• Adding a thousand people you don’t really know on Facebook in the weeks before elections
• Campaign platforms that include a variation of the phrase, “Be a voice for the students.” That’s asinine. You’re already supposed to do that. If that’s the only reason you can think of to run, you should think twice about running because to me, that’s a sign you haven’t thought very hard about making an actual difference
• Run without talking to the current officer: these are really the only people out there that can tell you what their job is really like

Second: those still considering running for office. A few years ago I was in your shoes, wringing my hands about whether I wanted to invest the time and take the risk to run. In the end, it was one of the hardest, most time-consuming, rewarding and fun things I’ve done yet in my life. If you think you can make a difference at this university, you’re probably right. If you’ve got big ideas, it would be a crying shame for those ideas to go to waste. You shouldn’t walk away from a chance to do something because the competition seems more popular/more involved. If you genuinely think you can do a better job than anyone else, then go run the race of your life, and you could be surprised at what you can accomplish.

Third: Those about to endure elections. Listen, it’s really not that bad. I know your social media feeds are going to blow up and you will get pretty sick of seeing people’s faces, but we don’t have to be drama queens about it. If it was one of your buddies running who you cared about, you’d probably be out there making the same noise. I definitely understand that some kooks can take it way over the top, but if you’re desperate to avoid people handing you flyers and talking to you, just walk around them. Don’t be a whiner. The truth is that having competent people in student leadership positions has likely done you direct good. Hard work from fellow student officers has led to a number of new scholarships, funding for student research projects, awesome events and concerts, occasional free food, a new online textbook exchange, and scads of things most people don’t even realize came from students and for which those students usually don’t get recognition.

Elections are coming. They’re a blast. They’re kinda crazy, and they genuinely help make this university the best around.

— Mike Rees is a senior in exercise science. He served as the 2012-2013 Education Senator. He has also contributed on several USUSA campaigns and has served on the USUSA Elections Committee.