As Restart’s candidate for vice president of Student Senate, I was not at all shocked to read Austin Linfante’s letter to The Post regarding this year’s Student Senate tickets and just how “terrible” they are. Faced with what he feels to be three un-compelling tickets, he encourages students to ignore this year’s elections entirely. That is, to forego casting a ballot completely and to pretend like this election never happened.
In any other election, I can’t say I’d blame him. With a Student Senate that has, for years, been so far removed from true democracy that it’s beginning to look like a self-appointed “Future Administrators of America” club, it’s easy to lose faith. However, when we really get down to the heart of the matter we have no one to blame but ourselves. The student body as a whole is seriously undereducated for 49 weeks out of the year, which makes it easy for campaigns to gloss over the facts and focus on the glamour to get re-elected. I was one of those students until last year, and sometimes I even wish that I could go back to that bliss of not knowing (or caring) about student politics.
I didn’t simply decide to run for Student Senate one day. It was a harrowing and stressful offer that was placed before me by a group of peers that I respect more than anyone else at this institution; the Student Union nominated and then voted for Meg, Jolana and myself because they felt that we had the organizing ability and skills to agitate for true change during this campaign. Isn’t that what democracy is about — collectively deciding what is best for all of us?
So here’s the crux of it: I don’t want to represent you. I want you to represent yourself. We have been accused of being too radical for protesting and engaging in civil disobedience. In reality, if Restart is radical it is because we believe that only you can represent yourself. Don’t be content to sit back while someone tells you what you should or shouldn’t do. Student voting rights are the most central and valuable aspect of our platform because we understand that no one could ever represent you thoroughly — the way you deserve to be represented — except you. You don’t like tuition rates? You don’t like how little you’re paid at Shively? You don’t like being just another cog in the machine of higher education? Good. Now do something about it. Meet with an administrator, start a petition, hang a sign out your bedroom window, join a protest demonstration. Do whatever it takes, but don’t think for a minute that it will be easy.
Restart isn’t just here to shake up Student Senate; we aren’t even here to push a specific agenda. We want students to restart the way they think about their own power. Vote for anyone or don’t vote at all — but don’t say that we will make Student Senate irrelevant. That’s entirely up to you.
Caitlyn McDaniel is a senior studying war and peace studies and the vice presidential candidate for the Restart ticket.
