It's so easy to bitch about stuff that you don't have any control over. Only slightly less justifiable is sitting around bitching about stuff that you can control, but you don't. I really don't remember voting in the SA elections last year, which could mean that either I just didn't care enough to do it or I didn't care enough to remember. Either way, being a commuter who really didn't do jack on campus, the SA elections seemed far from important to me. The Student Union was scary enough without people:
a.) Trying to talk to me
b.) Trying to talk to me about themselves, or
c.) Trying to convince me to elect them.
To me, each of the people who approached me was no different than the other, except one guy, who gave me candy.
In a year, I've learned how important it really is to know who these people are. Aside from the fact that SA collects $69.70 from you each semester, and therefore manages a budget of $2.2 million of students' money, they also oversee at least 160 clubs. Most anything that is cool on this campus happens, at least in part, because of SA. Sub-Board I and all of its services (which include Generation, University Union Activities Board [UUAB], Health Education and Human Services), free tutoring at the Learning Center, Spring Fest, Fall Fest, and the upcoming International Fiesta. Despite this, every candidate that we interviewed for our SA endorsements stressed that getting more students involved was key. Although only one party actually received endorsements from Generation, all of the candidates have the right idea--put up or shut up. These people have ideas, they want to see change, and they decided not to keep bitching, but to do something. UB needs more people like this.
This is your tuition money, your student activity fees, your time, energy, and your four (okay, four plus) years being put up for grabs here. The simple fact that you are reading this right now is a prime example of reasons that you should vote intelligently, and not leave it up to someone else. You know most people on this campus are jackasses, so whether you're a club president or if you've gone to one single SA sponsored event this year, FUCKING VOTE ALREADY! If you didn't go to any SA sponsored events, if you don't even know what SA is, that's an even better reason to vote. SA is pretty much what you make it. Don't vote for the Generation-endorsed candidates just because we told you to, vote for the people on these pages that you think will do the best job of representing you in their respective positions. That, in reality, is their primary duty.
