COLUMN: All candidates should be respected for their efforts
Walking around the other day, I ran into a camel. I had never seen a camel on campus before, so naturally I was intrigued. I’m not one to stare, but that day I just couldn’t help myself.
Apparently, the camel was supposed to be endorsing some candidate for the ASUSU election. Typically, I’m not one to give into perks-some stale piece of candy won’t buy my vote. But this time my shallowness shined through. I had to vote for the person.
Now I see how that Joe Camel got so many kids to smoke. There’s just something about a camel.
With the election results officially announced, some are excited, a few are disenchanted with the voting process, and most everyone else could care less. Many believe that student body officers can’t do much of anything anyways.
Regardless of where we stand on the spectrum of political apathy though, I feel that all candidates – win or lose – should be respected for their efforts.
Many complained about the onslaught of election material bombarding us from all sides. I was the first to avoid the gauntlet of a sidewalk between the Student Center and the Eccles Building jammed with eager campaigners and their fliers (and an occasional camel). But I don’t believe that candidates enjoy printing off a gazillion fliers and spending their day out in true Amway-style trying to sway our vote.
I’m sure they have better things to do with their time. At least, I hope they do.
Of course, the rest of us, like me, are too scared to run for office. You’re putting yourself out on the line in front of all your peers. And if you lose, well, joke’s on you. It’s scary stuff.
So why run?
I hope it’s not like the Snow College student body president who was elected then later impeached by his peers. Upon his impeachment, he said, “Well, now what I am going to write on my medical school applications, ‘Was student body president, then impeached?'”
I hope we’re not in it to sharpen up a resume. And for the most part, I don’t think we are. I believe that the majority of the candidates are running to truly make a difference.
And because of that, win or lose, you’ve won my applause.
To the winners goes the responsibility of representing the rest of us. Your voice in effect is our voice. Or at least it should be.
At the Big West tournament, I remember watching a Pacific fan sit down with his young son smack-dab in the middle of our student cheering section. Frankly, I think he was just trying to annoy the rest of us. And he was pretty effective. After a scuffle the night before between Cal-State Fullerton and USU students, I thought the move was pretty tactless. No one wanted to see another fight.
All sorts of students, disorganized at best, complained to the security officials to have the two removed before anything ugly happened again but without any success. It was then that ASUSU President Les Essig came over and discussed the matter with the security officials. Everyone else seemed to back off a little bit as Les represented the rest of us. Frankly, I don’t know what he said, or even if it did any good, but when he was up there, I did feel a whole lot calmer about the situation.
I’m not sure why either. There is something about saying “I am student body president” and “I represent the school” that carries considerable weight and respect. Or, at least, it should. It helped provide a little order to all the madness.
The Pacific fan did eventually leave, though. Such an example is small and likely unimportant, but what it represented is what I believe student officers should be, representatives for the rest of us.
So kudos to the candidates, and congrats to the winners.
And to the person with the camel, umm . . . can we be friends?
Jon Cox is a junior majoring in print journalism. Comments can be sent to jcox@cc.usu.edu.