The University at Buffalo recently took one more step towards its ultimate goal of being the American college most like Soviet Russia. We already had the Siberian-esque snowy plains, architecture reminiscent of an industrial wasteland, and our very own scapegoated Jewry (hello ladies of Nassau County!).

Two weeks ago, the Student Association (SA) Senate elections were cancelled due to lack of participation. We now proudly have one more notch in our USSR belt—a governing body primarily composed of one political party that was not actually chosen by the students that it’s supposed to represent.

But like those lovable commies of yesteryear, we can’t place all of the blame for the current would-be authoritarian leaders who reside in SA. It is our apathy as a student body that brought us to this point.

SA is the organization charged with distributing the mandatory student activity fee of $79.95 that you pay along with your tuition each semester. That money pays for everything from entertainment to clubs to the soldiers who whip students given community service hours in forced labor camps for SA’s Fallfest.

Each fall, students are given the opportunity to declare their candidacy for the senate by submitting a petition with the signatures of 40 of their peers, and are then pitted against other candidates in an election by the student body at large. This year, in the race for the 12 open seats, a whopping 12 students submitted petitions. Without anybody to challenge these candidates, whoever bothered to show up was simply given the office. Hooray for democracy.

In Soviet Russia, there was word for an undergraduate student body of just over 18,000 students that couldn’t produce enough candidates to hold such an election: disgraceful. Are we really so apathetic here that even an annual budget of roughly $2.4 million cannot motivate us to get involved?

Last week, I spoke with Viqar Hussain, leader of the UB Voice party and senator by default, about the lack of competition. “As much as I was disappointed, I’m here to be a student advocate,” he told me. “If people are annoyed by the candidates, it’s not our fault. We advertised the election in The Spectrum. If people want to do it, they’ve got to take initiative.”

Hussain suggested that he and his fellow senators hold a forum in the Student Union open to all students in lieu of their having had to prove themselves in an electoral competition. “If anyone has a concern that we can pursue, we might as well do it,” he said. He hopes to facilitate their version of Détente through open communication with students, and suggests that they contact him (mvh2@buffalo.edu) if they have suggestions or queries for the administration.

At this point, it is unclear whether or not the senate will follow through on this promise of openness, but since we have yet to see UB’s answer to the KGB, students can be optimistic in their attempts to work with SA without fear of retribution. For now though, it is imperative above all else that students stand up and let their voice be heard. If they continue to remain silent on SA matters, they can only blame themselves for what is (and, more importantly, what is not) done this year.

So, the next time you’re at an SA event waiting in that breadline for your student money subsidized hot dog, take a moment to hop out of line and approach officials like Hussain as they pass by. Tell them what kind of things you’d like to be seen done, because in the end, it’s your money they’re spending. And here’s to hoping that the next step in UB’s Sovietization is strong, cheap vodka and an abundance of attractive mail-order brides in next year’s incoming freshman class.