Elections Important For Students

This is not the first time such elections have been called. In fact, they happen regularly. Speaker Mark Townsend said that in all his time at UNC, the closest we've come to full representation is 31 out of 37 seats.

We don't have to look far for the cause of this problem. Fellow students, it is you.

Townsend and Student Body President Justin Young identified student apathy as the driving force behind the lack of representation. The level of this apathy is appalling -- not only do most students not vote in campus elections, many districts do not even have a single candidate running, which is why there always are empty seats.

Students apparently do not realize the importance of Student Congress. True, much of their business is routine and at times even tedious. True, taking an interest requires a bit of effort.

But student representation is a privilege, and a hard-won privilege at that, not a God-given right that we can take for granted, demanding it when we want it and ignoring it the rest of the time. Because when we need that representation it will be very hard on us if our apathy has allowed it to slip through our fingers.

How many of you even know which district of Student Congress represents (or, in 10 cases, is supposed to represent) you? Can we get a show of hands? Yes, that's what I thought.

Student government is the process through which the student body represents itself to University administrators. It is important that we students make use of that process, lest it be taken away from us.

It is especially important to do so now, when there is even less reason for administrators to take seriously UNC's student representation. Some members of student government themselves seem to be having problems with the system lately.

Two senior class officers, former senior class Vice President Ursula Dimmling and former Chief Marshal Annie Peirce, have resigned their posts in the past two weeks. Dimmling's resignation came in a flurry of allegations. She accused Senior Class President Ben Singer of wanting to make all decisions for the class without her input, while Singer said it was Dimmling who refused to include other officers in meetings with administrators.

This sort of bitterness and infighting will not be much help convincing administrators that student government is a serious and important source that should be involved in any future important decisions that will affect students.

Student leaders are elected to do a job. Even if it means working through difficult interpersonal tensions, they should make doing that job their priority.

It's bad enough when the average student is apathetic and unconcerned about the goings-on of student government. When students who actually hold office forget the importance of what they're there to do, it indicates a serious lack of participation running through the student body.

Columnist Geoff Wessel can be reached at vrooom@email.unc.edu.