Student volunteers: You’ve probably seen them more times than you can count, and with the ASUO elections last week, they swarmed around campus more than usual.
At the college level, I expect student organizations to have a relatively high degree of professionalism. To my disappointment, there’s a thin line between college candidates and the candidates in my high school who threw candy out during their speeches.
Deciding to attend the University is the biggest investment and commitment I have made. I would be a fool to not stay informed about policymaking that directly affects me. However, this election season, which is my first at the University, left a bad impression on me and many fellow freshmen.
Both slates chose to represent themselves with campaign rule violations and invasive tactics. The majority of these tactics took place on campus and targeted the freshman class.
As a freshmen, I spend nearly all of my time on campus. I eat here, I go to class here, and I sleep here. Campaigns took advantage of my personal space for the sake of their cause, which is why I have decided to never get involved in ASUO affairs.
Invasive Tactics
If volunteers came to your residence hall, they might have violated campaign rules. One volunteer posted a sticker on my door without my consent. University Housing Policies state “Posters and signs may be posted by residents on their own doors, the inside of their own windows, and in their own rooms” (Elections Packet page 21).
These tactics put students in a compromising position and ultimately destroyed the notion that dorms are comfortable environments to live in. Although Housing Policies allow campaigning within the dorms under certain conditions, I believe residence halls should be respected as personal space rather than free venues to promote political platforms.
Not to mention, votes obtained by dorm-to-dorm solicitation do not necessarily represent people’s viewpoints. One student on my floor told me she only voted for a campaign so the volunteers would leave. Judging by the array of matching stickers plastered throughout my hall, I suspect dozens of students voted for the sake of voting.
Setting up booths outside the EMU is a less invasive way to campaign. The booths aren’t the problem; it’s the volunteers who insist on having full-length conversations with you between your classes. If I were interested in talking about issues like school funding, I would walk up to a booth on my own time.
However, volunteers often reel people in while they are going to class, which is the most inconvenient and limited time to discuss agendas and complicated issues. Sometimes volunteers even followed students all the way down 13th street with election ballots open on their laptops.
Not only did the campaigns turn the most congested street on campus into a red and purple parade, they also planted themselves in front of dining halls, where many freshmen students eat.
As if confronting me on my way to dinner wasn’t good enough, volunteers called me multiple times throughout the week (I guess a single call wasn’t good enough either). When I didn’t pick up, they called me again two minutes later.
These campaigns were so invasive that my friends and I went out of our way to avoid volunteers. We ignored our cell phones for a week. We ignored the elections altogether.
I thought college-level government would be a step up from what I experienced in high school. Yet, I have found that college students are no different.
They would rather suffocate the student body with campaign symbols than actually earn an honest vote. In doing so, ASUO lost many freshman who could have potentially impacted the future of student government at the University.
Let’s just hope that some freshmen didn’t feel as invaded as I did.