A large number of applications means the UOSA fall 2009 general election will not be like the uncontested, low turnout election last spring, Fall 2009 Election Chairman Jeff Riles said.
“Compared to what I’ve been told from what happened last spring, this is a complete turnaround in participation,” said Riles, a first-year law student. “We’ve worked really hard on getting the applications to the people rather than having the people come to us like they have in the past.”
UOSA received 58 applications for candidates to fill 30 seats in the fall 2010-2011 election, Riles said.
“Most seats are going to be contested races,” he said.
Riles said the large amounts of applications received are a result of a campaign started by UOSA to increase student involvement.
“This was a combination of many people coming together to let people know that seats are available and that people can fill out an application if they want to run,” UOSA President Katie Fox said.
Fox said the campaign involved making people aware of the upcoming election and giving people access to the applications to sign up.
“We made posters and put applications in buildings where a lot of students have classes,” Fox said. “In the end, we are so glad people have signed up to take part in making a difference in their community and school.”
Four candidates running for re-election are also being recalled. Riles said those candidates will only appear on the ballot once.
“We found it to be redundant that someone who is being recalled while being reelected has to be voted on twice on the ballot,” Riles said.
Riles said candidates who are running for reelection while being recalled will only have to run for re-election in the fall general election.
Candidates who are being recalled but only have to run for re-election are: Charles Biddle (Atmospheric Sciences district), John Hampton (Physical Sciences district), Ashley Zumwalt (University College district) and Kelly Lin (International and Area Studies district).
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soonerboomers 2 years, 7 months ago
Well, it looks like the SDS campaign worked. Their UOSA campaign is undeniably a big cause of this rise in interest.
LaurenB 2 years, 7 months ago
While it is awesome that there are a greater number of seats that are contested this semester, I shook my head a lot during this article, like here:
"'This was a combination of many people coming together to let people know that seats are available and that people can fill out an application if they want to run,' UOSA President Katie Fox said."
Um... The only things I have heard from UOSA this semester have been from the articles featuring SDS too. Everyone that I know who submitted or thought about submitting an application did it because they agreed with SDS, not because they had heard anything at all from UOSA.
"'We made posters and put applications in buildings where a lot of students have classes,'"
Really? When I got heard about the applications, the only place that I heard they were made available - and this is from talking to UOSA members - was the Union. I never noticed any posters or applications in any building I had a class in.
Again, I am excited that more people are trying to get involved, but there still needs to be a lot more PR work from UOSA before they delcare "Mission Accomplished."
theotherone 2 years, 7 months ago
Short of actually going up to every single student at the university and handing them an application, there really isn't that much more that UOSA can do. There were OU mass emails sent out. There was a large facebook effort. There were posters in many very prominent places on campus. There was a table in the union. There were ads and articles in the daily about the elections. If students aren't aware enough about these elections, then it's their own fault. And frankly, as a student, I don't want someone who doesn't care enough to pay attention to what's going on around them, or who can't look up at the bulletin boards, or who can't read their email, to be running this school.
JWJ 2 years, 7 months ago
Jeff Riles (Election Chair) and the Election Board, Spencer Pittman (Congress PR Chair) and the Congress PR Committee, members of the executive branch, and many Congress representatives and associates worked really hard the last few weeks to pass out several hundred applications.
I know Jeff Riles and Spencer Pittman worked together to make posters which had envelopes attached with applications in several buildings on campus as well. Various departments with poor representation were contacted and an OUMM was sent out. Simply put, this is the biggest recruitment drive I have ever seen or heard of from UOSA and I believe all parties involved did a terrific job.
In July and August Student Congress recruited the most new members we ever have since I've been here (Fall 2006). Many of those individuals applied, as well as current or returning members - they certainly can't all be elected, but they will participate in competitive elections.
UOSA can definitely work to improve its PR efforts. However, I think Melissa Mock from the executive branch and Spencer Pittman from Student Congress have both done outstanding jobs in their jobs as Director of Communications and Chair of Public Relations, respectively. I say, the more interactive UOSA is with students, the better.
The executive branch's newsletter to administrative student organizations and Congress' tables in the Union are both great steps in the right direction, and that's just two things that they are doing. Both branches also worked hard this summer to contact potential members at Housing's involvement fair, Camp Crimson, and other venues. You've also seen articles in the Oklahoma Daily after every Congress meeting since the session began in April.
I think it's great that many groups on campus are becoming interested in UOSA and I hope that interactivity continues. Without interactivity, it's difficult to gauge how students across a broad range of activities and academic disciplines are feeling.
I encourage anyone and everyone who is still interested in applying for Congress (to be an associate and/or liaison) to e-mail us at Congress@ou.edu. Although there are only 48 representatives seats, we can always use more heads and hands for advocacy projects. That e-mail address is also a great way to share your thoughts on how we're doing or what you'd like to see us work on.
Sincerely, John W. Jennings Chair, UOSA Student Congress