Leadership, diversity, and choice are popular buzzwords at Simmons.
This past week the Simmons undergraduate community elected next year’s SGA eBoard and class councils.
For all our talk, there was a lack of choices for Simmons to choose as its leaders. Competition for some of the most powerful student leadership positions was sadly low.
For SGA positions, the race for President had two candidates. The candidates for vice president and student affairs officer ran uncontested. Three positions had no candidates.
The 2015 Class Council candidates for secretary and vice president ran uncontested. President and treasurer positions were open. The 2016 Class Council had two contested races for president and vice president positions, but no candidates for secretary or treasurer. The 2017 Class Council had four uncontested candidates.
Out of 17 positions, only three had official opposing candidates.
Two parties predominantly control political power in the United States. Every election cycle there is critique on how badly a two-party system is for the greater public. If only having two choices is a bad scenario, what does that say about only having one choice or no choice at all?
Our class councils and SGA are supposed to be representative of us as students. However, with only 0.7 percent of the student body running for these important offices, how can the parent organizations of Class Councils and SGA hope to be an accurate representation of a diverse student body?
At this point, when all but three of our leaders are elected by default, it is hard for such a narrow selection to accurate reflect the views of the larger Simmons population.
More students need to run for these powerful positions.
Understandably, coursework, jobs, clubs, and other responsibilities take up much of students’ time. Being a part of SGA would be another added time commitment. A new system of stipends was voted in this year. While holding office is a time commitment, it can also be considered a job. It is an important job too.
OrgSync currently lists 80 organizations on campus. Simmons has 10 sports teams and is involved in Colleges of the Fenway activities. It is easy to see how someone could be comfortable only being part of a niche group. However, these parent organizations have a substantial role in the management of all student groups. These positions should be filled by the most qualified candidates. While I’m sure all the candidates who ran for positions are qualified, if they aren’t challenged, there is no way to compare their credentials.
A competitive SGA won’t fix every leaky faucet or dining services complaint. They can’t magically make more financial aid help available to students. But, by being able to actually have a choice of candidates, students will have the option to elect people who will focus on the issues that they believe to be most important.
In future elections, hopefully there will be a wider selection of candidates so that every student can check a box of a person they know will be an advocate for her/himself.
In closing, the Simmons Voice editorial board would to commend those students who did make the effort to run in the elections and congratulate those who were elected. Best of luck in 2014-2015 and do your best to listen to the many diverse voices of the Simmons student body.
