It seems like just yesterday that hundreds upon hundreds of USC
students were voting for their favorite fraternity and sorority members to be
their next President and Vice President.
Well, 2011 is here now, and I am not going to let the occasion pass me
by again.
It is high time that USC students begin to take the elections seriously. I’ll admit, when I read on a poster far off
in the distance that this year’s elections were being held on February 21st, I wondered why USG would hold an election on everyone’s
day off. But as my almost legally blind
eyes unsquinted, I realized that President’s Day is a perfect day to vote for a
new school president. I promised myself I would do nothing to verify the date because student elections deserve the gravitas of a national presidential election ““ not a midterm election (which I
wouldn’t vote in even if I waited hours in line to see President Obama ask me
to).
There’s many reasons one should vote.
First, it’s easy to vote online.
You could be voting instead of reading this article. If you don’t want to vote online, USG will
bribe you with free ice cream to do it in person (Note: If a campaign does
this, however, be sure to report this inappropriate behavior to the proper authorities [another campaign]).
Secondly, it’s easier than
voting in a federal election with complex issues. Instead of having to choose between health
care reform or no health care reform, you get to choose between faster wireless internet and faster wireless internet.
Third, you’ll feel better about making USC a better place. Sure, not everything you want will be part of
a presidential platform. For example, I
was dismayed to see that no candidate promised to advocate more gentrification
in the University Park area or to rid campus of plastic ID cards in favor of
efficient retina scanners. I was also
disappointed to hear that making USC “greener” did not mean making USC more
like the Oregon Ducks in football next fall.
But, no matter the platform, you can be assured that the winning
candidates will bring up every issue they promised to and that the university
will at least politely listen.
And if you don’t care about making USC a better college, you should appreciate the drama of the election that is bound to arise from inane violations. For example, this year the Tyagi-Lachman
ticket was sanctioned for wearing campaign shirts in a campus bar. USG ordered the candidates not to wear
campaign shirts for an hour as per the USG Election Code, which was modeled
after the Code of Hammurabi.
So, listen to those e-mails sent through Blackboard and get out and vote for your classmates’ friends. If you haven’t received any e-mails, check your spam folder. See you at the ballot box!
