The Associated Students of the University of Utah elections are just around the corner, and most students don’t really give a damn. To be fair, the campaigns I’ve seen in my time at this university haven’t warranted a second glance (not to mention that hardly anyone outside of ASUU actually knows what ASUU does). This year, U students have a rare opportunity to actually vote for candidates who are going to get things done and improve student life.
Last year’s ASUU campaigns drew a paltry 12 percent voter turnout. The taste of pointless high school student government elections must still linger on the tongues of younger students. I was pretty apathetic about it, too. Why should I care about what a bunch of chuckleheads do in their tower all day? This sentiment is apparently shared by a majority of my fellow U students, and we couldn’t be more wrong.
For shame! Why has nobody told us that ASUU controls a $1.4 million budget that covers everything from concerts to tuition costs? The ASUU General Assembly and ASUU Senate are directly responsible for allocating these funds to students and student groups, so it’s not just the president, vice president and senior class president who are important. But we might as well take a look at those positions.
The president’s main responsibility is to act as an administrator by sitting on the Board of Regents and the Board of Trustees. The president also acts as the student representative to the Utah State Legislature. In essence, the president is the student voice to all of the old farts who say when up is up and down is down at the U.
The vice president of ASUU is the “face” of the student government and acts as a liaison to the student body. The vice president runs the office of ASUU and works directly with students as the chair of the assembly.
Finally, the senior class president traditionally puts together homecoming and the senior gift and organizes things related to graduation.
With ASUU obviously having a heavy hand in the goings-on of student life, it is such a disservice to the student and the university to not vote in the elections.
The most important thing to do for yourself and the student body is to vote, especially when our university has made it so easy for us. From Wednesday at 7 a.m. to Thursday at 10 p.m., you can log into the Campus Information System and cast your vote.
For more information about the candidates running this year, their websites are available at thefocusparty.com and spork2008.blogspot.com. See the difference for yourself.
