Freshman Election Time SGA elections are here again. The freshmen posters are out, and the voting booths “opened” on the website today. To most upperclassmen, and perhaps to more of the freshmen than we’d like to admit, it’s just another Tuesday. But to 15 ambitious freshmen, it’s the climax of a nerve-wracking blitz to the first step of their Student Government career.
I met one of these freshmen a month ago. His name escapes me, but his credentials aren’t so easy to forget. He chaired the national committee of High School SGA presidents. He intends to do the same thing four years from now by becoming president of the Board of Student Body Presidents.
My freshman year, 2002, I was surrounded by the Freshmen campaigns. I wasn’t running, but all my friends were. The massive wooden signs seemed to fight for space around the bridge to the Residence Halls. One or two made bold approaches to the Curris Center, only to be quietly removed after penalties and warnings were written to the candidate. The day before elections, two candidates produced T-shirts encouraging their peers to vote. People stood up in class and mentioned the election. On voting day, I was asked at least 5 times if I had voted yet.
All four 2005-2006 Senate executive officers ran for freshman senator their freshman year. Only one, Emily Just, got it. The others went to Freshman Council, with Emily as their chair. I can only imagine how awkward that would be at first. Obviously, though, they worked well together. Most of them are still working together today. I became Clark College’s Senate Representative shortly after these elections, and sat on Senate with Emily, the Freshman Senator.
The 2002 Freshman Council brought about the birth of “Hail Racers,” a yellow-clad wave of cheering students that filled a section of the RSEC for every basketball game. Hail Racers only lasted another year before dwindling out to a few die-hard fans, but the experience of organizing it and preparing for every game gave everyone a taste of what Student Government can be like. Once I was a senator, I spent afternoons talking with Emily and found myself in that sea of screaming fans on occasion.
I wonder sometimes if “real” government is anything like the Student Government. Campaign caps prevent us from pouring excess money into the race. All candidates agree on the same “do’s and don’ts” for some things. Others are set in stone. What really seems to set the SGA apart, though, is the ease at which one can find a niche. Senate has always had a reputation as being mostly Greek. RCA may be (or sometimes see themselves as) a little outcast from the rest of the Student Government Body. But if you’re really out to get involved, you can. I did. I’ve served on Senate for four years, always in that non-Greek minority. I’ve become RCA president, despite the fact that I’ve sat on Senate for four years and never once on RCA. I’m not saying it’s easy. Politics is never easy. But to those who want to get involved, it is available.
This morning I walked by 5 wooden signs, each marked with a name I didn’t know. The signs have been moving a little closer to the bridge each day, pushing the invisible line written on a form all the candidates signed. The polls are open, and somewhere 15 freshmen are wondering how many of their peers were listening.  ¶   1 comments